That is one thing I've learned, that it is possible to really understand things at certain points, and not be able to retain them, to be in utter confusion just a short while later. I used to think that once you really knew a thing, its truth would shine on forever. Now it's pretty obvious to me that more often than not the batteries fade, and sometimes what you knew even goes out with a bang when you try to call on it, just like a lightbulb cracking off when you throw the switch.

Updike and Bellow and Roth were my three favorite writers when I was young and throughout my life.

People gave me such a bad time about wanting a baby. I didn't want a baby, and I still don't. I wanted a dog.

If someone loves you for what you can do then it's flattering, but why do you love them? If someone loves you for who you are then they have to know you, which means you have to know them.

The light was cut to lace by the trees that had grown so thick with leaves in the last few months.

I am the person who is appropriating stories that are not mine and turning them into a book.

No one tells the truth to people they don't actually know, and if they do it is a horrible trait. Everyone wants something smaller, something neater than the truth.