Thank you for your letter. I am glad to hear you like literature – although like sounds an understatement in your case. Books were always my life, too; and unlike past loves, a good book does not usually desert you. I think I began to enjoy the Gothic more, the more I suffered: I suppose the anguish and loneliness in Frankenstein resounds most strongly with those who know the feeling.

I had hoped this might be a more cheerful letter. Let me try and lighten the tone. What are you reading right now?

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