I studied English literature in the honors program, which means that you had to take courses in various centuries. You had to start with Old English, Middle English, and work your way toward the modern. I figured if I did that it would force me to read some of the things I might not read on my own.

She thought a writer should work harder writing a book than she did reading it.

She may have looked normal on the outside, but once you'd seen her handwriting you knew she was deliciously complicated inside.

The world, a tired performer, offers us another half-assed season.

I approach writing female characters the same why I approach writing male characters. I never think I'm writing about women, I think I'm writing about one woman, one person. And I try to imagine what she is like, and endow her with a lot of my own thoughts and history.

She held herself very straight, like Audrey Hepburn, whom all women idolize and men never think about.

It was possible to feel superior to other people and feel like a misfit at the same time.