Other people sound flat to my ear; their words just hang in the air. But when my mother says something, the ends curl.

Fact: upon locking yourself our of your apartment you will immediately need to use the bathroom. Fact: and then you will stand in place and watch your door. You will just stare. As though rebuffed by it. As though it has done this to you.

My parents had this relationship that was really terrifying. I mean, the level of hatred that they had, and the level of physical abuse - my mother would beat up my father, basically - and I think I was drawn to images on television that were bright and reflective.

This is how you survive the unsurvivable, this is how you lose that which you cannot bear to lose, this is how you reinvent yourself, overcome your abusers, fulfill your ambitions and meet the love of your life: by following what is true, no matter where it leads you.

I always tried to learn Greek, but all I got out of it was, "poulaki mou." ["My little chicken."]

There's never a false note in a Berg novel.

And I tend to listen to NPR when I'm not writing.