Carrick returned the smile. "As do I. Literature has been a great comfort to me over the centuries. Books have always been constant companions." He reached over and leafed through the stack of books borrowed from his library. "Books used to be such a luxury. I can't describe to you what it was like before mass markets and e-readers and chains of bookshops in every town centre. Back in the 19th century, people used to queue up at the docks for shipments of new serial novels to arrive. There were fights. It was insane."
He put the books back in a neat stack. "Any favourites?"