books hold so many memories of the times and places in which I’ve read them. - Laila Lalami

I had been pushed further and further into a fate from which no escape or reprieve seemed possible. And so there came a moment when I stopped struggling, when I decided that I would cease making any more plans to return to the old days. I made up my mind to look upon the present as exactly what it was: it was all I had. (p232)

But, he tried to tell himself, maybe this was just a fleeting interest, maybe it would all go away.

We're so blinded by our love of the West that we're willing to give them our brightest instead of keeping them here where we need them.