restraint equals indulgence

I could never work out whether we were to view religion as a life-insurance policy or a life sentence.

A novel can educate to some extent, but first a novel has to entertain. That's the contract with the reader: you give me ten hours and I'll give you a reason to turn every page. I have a commitment to accessibility. I believe in plot. I want an English professor to understand the symbolism while at the same time I want the people I grew up with - who may not often read anything but the Sears catalog - to read my books.

It takes some courage to write fiction about politically controversial topics. The dread is you'll be labeled a political writer.

Solitude is a human presumption. Every quiet step is thunder to beetle life underfoot, a tug of impalpable thread on the web pulling mate to mate and predator to prey, a beginning or an end. Every choice is a world made new for the chosen.

The average food item on a U.S. grocery shelf has traveled farther than most families go on their annual vacations.

There was a roaring in my ears and I lost track of what they were saying. I believe it was the physical manifestation of unbearable grief.