The contemporary American novelist benefits in a way from being ignored. It makes you angrier and makes you want to go into all of those places where you shouldnt.

Literature can remind us that not all life is already written down: there are still so many stories to be told.

The Irish are great for their tunes, but all their lovesongs are sad and their warsongs happy.

One look at each other and it was immediately understood that they both needed a clean slate,,, The obliteration of memory.

I think a good novel can be a doorstop to despair. I also think the real bravery comes with those who prepared to go through that door and look at the world in all its grime and torment, and still find something of value, no matter how small.

Some people think love is the end of the road, and if you're lucky enough to find it, you stay there. Other people say it just becomes a cliff you drive off, but most people who've been around awhile know it's just a thing that changes day by day, and depending on how much you fight for it, you get it, or you hold on to it, or you lose it, but sometimes it's never even there in the first place.

There is always room for at least two truths.