I read a book a day when I was a kid. My family was not literary; we did not have any books in the house.

Your only shame is to have shame.

I used to think that my mother got into arguments with people because they didn't understand her English, because she was Chinese.

Why do you think you are missing something you never had?

The forbidden things were a great influence on my life. I was forbidden from reading A Catcher in the Rye.

Your life is what you see in front of you. -An-mei

Now I was a tiger that neither pounced nor lay waiting between the trees. I became an unseen spirit.