I write books to relieve ­myself of pain. That's the prime motivator to write. Period.

With "Taipei" Tao Lin becomes the most interesting prose stylist of his generation...

Life is like a typographical error: we're constantly writing and rewriting things over each other.

He was simply someone who floated through our lives and didn't seem to care how flatly he perceived everyone or that he'd shared our secret failures with the world, showcasing the youthful indifference, the gleaming nihilism, glamorizing the horror of it all.

I don't know why I write what I write.

I totally relate to Tom Cruise. He's not crazy, it's just the litany of the mid-life crisis.

No one is drawn to writing about being happy or feelings of joy.