When men do the dishes, it's called helping. When women do the dishes, it is called life.

Decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.

I'm boggled by the idea of being an only child. I know nothing at all (I'm happy to say) about having had a cold and withholding mother, about being divorced. The more I've been writing novels, each novel I've written has become successively less grounded in anything approaching autobiography.

When you really want to say no, say no. You can't do everything - or at least not well.

I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.

This is why I had children: to offer them a perfect dream of childhood that can fill their souls as they grow older.

What had I expected of the first child? Everything. Rocket scientist. Neurosurgeon. Designated hitter. We talked wisely at cocktail parties about the sad mistake our mothers had made in pinning all their hopes and dreams on us. We were full of it.