That was the way things worked. When you were looking for the big fight, the moment that you thought would knock everything over, nothing much happened at all.

Keeping people safe is a story we tell ourselves.

I read books I hate all the time, and I don't mention them or talk about them.

I was starting to wonder if I was ready to be a writer, not someone who won prizes, got published and was given the time and space to work, but someone who wrote as a course of life. Maybe writing wouldn't have any rewards. Maybe the salvation I would gain through work would only be emotional and intellectual. Wouldn't that be enough, to be a waitress who found an hour or two hidden in every day to write?

You can’t pick up and leave everything behind because there is too much sadness in the world and not enough places to go.

That's one of the many things about having the bookstore that I adore. I can walk into the store and say to somebody, "I'm glad you're reading this book" or "I'm glad you're getting this book" or "Don't get that book. I read that book and hated that book. Let's get you this book instead."

I love telling people what to read. It's my favorite thing in the world, to buy books and force books on people, take bad books away from people, give them better books.