✦ aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe ㅤ ‘‘i had learned to hide what i felt. no, that's not true. there was no learning involved. i had been born knowing how to hide what i felt.’’

✦ pinball ㅤ ‘‘sometimes i feel like a caretaker of a museum — a huge, empty museum where no one ever comes, and i’m watching over it for no one but myself.’’

✦ the god of small things ㅤ ‘‘if you're happy in a dream, does that count?’’

✦ the beatrice letters ㅤ ‘‘but i must admit i miss you terribly. The world is too quiet without you nearby.’’

✦ the wind-up bird chronicle ㅤ ‘‘but even so, every now and then i would feel a violent stab of loneliness. the very water i drink, the very air I breathe, would feel like long, sharp needles. the pages of a book in my hands would take on the threatening metallic gleam of razor blades. i could hear the roots of loneliness creeping through me when the world was hushed at four o'clock in the morning.’’