"Books are among the greatest friends of our lives."

This is an extract from a speech made by Richard Condon in November 1988 at the Boston Globe Book Fair in the Boston Public Library.

"Writers weren't meant to be speakers. Particularly me. I am a practised stutterer. Therefore, this mercifully short talk will be followed by a question and answer session. I tell you this now so that you can think of questions to ask me, liberating all of us.

Long ago, when I was about 18, I went into a store to buy a hat. When I had what I wanted, the salesman asked me if I would like my initials printed on the inside hat band. I said I would. He asked for my initials. I told him R.T.C. When the hat came back, because of a little expert stuttering, it was inscribed in golden letters with three R's, two T's and a C

Words and their usage tool on a special meaning to me. To stutter as well as I did, I had to develop a vocabulary. I had to have a synomyn ready for each word which refused to be spoken, whether the new word would work or not. I suppose I was drawn to writing because I had so much trouble with talking.

I have always had a friendly feeling about words packed into books. When we walk through the knee-deep snow to the library, find just the book we want, walk home, fighting the wind and the ice, lock the door, sit down and start to read, we know we have made one more good friend. Books are among the greatest friends of our lives."