You think that what I've told you is an anecdote. But really it isn't. It's my whole life. It's the only story I have.
Charles BaxterWhat's agitating about solitude is the inner voice telling you that you should be mated to somebody, that solitude is a mistake. The inner voice doesn't care about who you find. It just keeps pestering you, tormenting you--if you happen to be me--with homecoming queens first, then girls next door, and finally anybody who might be pleased to see you now and then at the dinner table and in bed on occasion. You look up from reading the newspaper and realize that no one loves you, and no one burns for you.
Charles BaxterWhen readers don't like the book, it's usually because they feel that romantic love is pass or somehow needs more irony.
Charles BaxterI feel quite at home writing short stories but nervous and anxious when writing novels, as if the bad time of consecutive failures might arise again.
Charles BaxterEvery relationship has at least one really good day. What I mean is, no matter how sour things go, there's always that day. That day is always in your possession. That's the day you remember. You get old and you think: well, at least I had that day. It happened once. You think all the variables might just line up again. But they don't. Not always. I once talked to a woman who said, "Yeah, that's the day we had an angel around.
Charles Baxter