Another thing I learned is that novels, even those from apparently distant times and places, remain current and enlightening, and also comforting.

In many ways, being honest about 'Huckleberry Finn' goes right to the heart of whether we can be honest about our heritage and our identity as Americans.

When I went to first grade and the other children said that their fathers were farmers, I simply didn't believe them. I agreed in order to be polite, but in my heart I knew that those men were impostors, as farmers and as fathers, too. In my youthful estimation, Laurence Cook defined both categories. To really believe that others even existed in either category was to break the First Commandment.

Candy is my fuel. Ice cream, too.

Good intentions are wicked! As far as I can see, all they lead to are lies and delusions.

Well, in fact everybody - everybody - in the entire nation has enough stuff in their life to write about that's interesting that they could write their autobiography. And in the end that's why I find people interesting.

A horse herd was, in its very essence, the manifestation of the expression 'It's always something.