“It was as if, because of the very strangeness of my heritage and the worlds I straddled, I was from everywhere and nowhere at once; a combination of ill-fitting parts, like a platypus or some imaginary beast, confined to a fragile habitat, unsure of where I belonged. And I sensed, without fully understanding why or how, that unless I could stitch my life together and situate myself along some firm axis I might end up in some basic way living my life alone.

I didn’t talk to anyone about this; certainly not my friends or family. I didn’t want to hurt their feelings or stand out any more than I already did. But I did find refuge in books”

-A Promised Land