The fake slap invariably makes contact, adding the elements of shock and betrayal to what had previously been plain old-fashioned fear.

When someone tell me they illegally downloaded one of my audiobooks I think, Thanks a lot, Pal. When someone tells me they checked my book out of the library, I'm delighted. I've always been a big library user, and feel a kinship with others who do the same thing.

College is the best thing that can ever happen to you," my father used to say, and he was right, for it was there that I discovered drugs, drinking, and smoking.

If you read someone else's diary, you get what you deserve.

If you are any kind of an artist, then validation . . . can be a result, but you're going to do the work anyway.

Actually I liked that 'Let the Right One In,' that Swedish vampire movie.

The only bright spot in the entire evening was the presence of Kevin "Tubby" Matchwell, the eleven-year-old porker who tackled the role of Santa with a beguiling authenticity. The false beard tended to muffle his speech, but they could hear his chafing thighs all the way to the North Pole.