“Reading alters the appearance of a book. Once it has been read, it never looks the same again, and people leave their individual imprint on a book they have read. Once of the pleasures of reading is seeing this alteration on the pages, and the way, by reading it, you have made the book yours.”

American novelist and travel writer

Paul Theroux is an American novelist and travel writer. He is known for books that move between fiction and travel writing, including the travelogue The Great Railway Bazaar. His work has reached beyond the page as well. The Mosquito Coast won the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and some of his fiction has been adapted for film and television, including versions of The Mosquito Coast.