Quotes From "What Is Stephen Harper Reading?: Yann Martels Recommended Reading For A Prime Minister And Book Lovers Of All..." By Yann Martel

Books, like people, can't be reduced to the cost of...
1
Books, like people, can't be reduced to the cost of the materials with which they were made. Books, like people, become unique and precious once you get to know them. Yann Martel
2
You might have noticed that I have been sending you used books. I have done this not to save money, but to make a point which is that a used book, unlike a used car, hasn't lost any of its initial value. A good story rolls of the lot into the hands of its new reader as smoothly as the day it was written. And there's another reason for these used paperbacks that never cost much even when new; I like the idea of holding a book that someone else has held, of eyes running over lines that have already seen the light of other eyes. That, in one image, is the community of readers, is the communion of literature. Yann Martel