on the magic of words

… I skimmed many books, read lots of poems, bits of paragraphs, spellbinding moments. … For me, each book released an aroma, a voice, a time, a moment, a pain, a presence; each book cast a light or burdened me with its shadow; I was terrified feeling these souls, tied up in one hum, crackling under my fingers.

- Patrick Chamoiseau, pg. 218, Texaco, trans. Rejouis & Vinokurov