The walls of books around me, dense with the past, formed a kind of insulation against the present world and its dangers. I hated to get up.

Ross Macdonald (1915-1983) American-Canadian author [pseud. of Kenneth Millar]

The Chill, ch. 8 (Lew Archer) (1963)
    (Source)

Often misquoted in the third person ("The walls of books around him ...")