I once heard someone on a bus say that this guy had gotten under her skin. And it struck me as a remarkable thought - that someone would affect you so deeply they'd always be a part of you.

When you love someone, you say their name different. Like it's safe inside your mouth.

Stem cell research has become such a polarizing issue in America... and I wanted to bring it down to the personal level, instead of the political.

Most people in America want an easy read. I call it McFiction - books which pass right through you without you even digesting them. I don't mean a book that has two-syllable words. I mean chapters you can read in a toilet break. Happy endings. We are more of a TV culture.

Nowadays, I dont have expectations, and this way she beats them all.

There's that unwritten schism that literary writers get all the awards and commericals writers get all the success.

newborns reminded her of tiny buddhas