He used to say we all had a compass inside of us and what we needed to do was to find it and to follow it.

Even though I didn't know I was applying for the job, I have somehow become the spokesperson for independent book stores.

You can't be a good person when you're writing and a bad person to your husband or a bad friend.

I could teach. I could wait tables. I could cook in a restaurant. Food and teaching were the two skills I had.

I wanted to eat her pain, take it into me and make it my own.

I don't want to stand with somebody's praise. Whereas now when people come up to me, they say, "I love the bookstore" and "Kids! Come here, come here! This is the woman who owns the bookstore." That's incredible. I can say to that, "Thank you for shopping local. Thank you for coming in. What are you reading? Let's talk about books." It's about something I'm doing as opposed to somehow something I am. I feel comfortable and positive in that role. Because it's about reading. It's about books. It's about learning. It's about business and tax base.

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