A Book of Books: Quotes, Aphorisms and Sayings From The World of Literature (Norton 1985). We used this book as a doorstep to keep the living room door open. I referenced it when my homework needed some extra juice. The more tired or distracted I was, the quicker I turned to it. In April 1993 Mrs White pointed out that while quotations should be ornamental rather than bearing the brunt of your story, lately yours have been bordering on the superfluous. It feels as if you've been shoehorning them into your essays where they are not needed. I nodded. Many a poem is marred by a superfluous word, I said. (Henry Wordsworth Longfellow, as quoted in A Book of Books: Quotes, Aphorisms and Sayings From The World of Literature (Norton 1985)). [...]