Gogol is unaccustomed to this sort of talk at mealtimes, to the indulgent ritual of the lingering meal, and the pleasant aftermath of bottles and crumbs and empty glasses that clutter the table.

In fiction, plenty do the job of conveying information, rousing suspense, painting characters, enabling them to speak. But only certain sentences breathe and shift about, like live matter in soil.

Sexy means loving someone you donot know.

...that in spite of living in a mansion an American is not above wearing a pair of secondhand pants, bought for fifty cents.

The most compelling narrative, expressed in sentences with which I have no chemical reaction, or an adverse one, leaves me cold.

A bicultural upbringing is a rich but imperfect thing

She has the gift of accepting her life.