If poisons were ponies, I'd put my money on cyanide.

I'm at that age where I watch such things with two minds, one that cackles at these capers and another that never gets much beyond a rather jaded and self-conscious smile, like the Mona Lisa.

Whenever I'm with other people, part of me shrinks a little. Only when I am alone can I fully enjoy my own company.

I was learning that among friends, a smile can be better than a belly laugh.

I was an early reader, and my grandmother, who as a child had been forbidden to read by a father who believed books to be frivolous time-wasters, delighted in putting her favorite volumes into her grandchildren's hands.

Although it is pleasant to think about poison at any season, there is something special about Christmas, and I found myself grinning.

Whenever I'm out-of-doors and find myself wanting to have a first-rate think, I fling myself down on my back, throw my arms and legs out so that I look like an asterisk, and gaze at the sky.