He just waited until I stopped talking and said, 'Jesus, kid, you're almost a detective. All you need now is a gun, a gut, and three ex-wives. So what's your theory?

If he is anything other than a total gentleman, I’m going to gouge his eyes out.” “So you’re into it.” “Withholding judgment! When can I see you?” “Certainly not until you finish An Imperial Affliction.” I enjoyed being coy. “Then I’d better hang up and start reading.” “You’d better,” I said, and the line clicked dead without another word. Flirting was new to me, but I liked it.

All the things paper-thin and paper-frail, and all the people too.

People are supposed to care. It's good that people mean something to you, that you miss people when they're gone.

Reading forces you to be quiet in a world that no longer makes place for that.

It is so hard to leave—until you leave. And then it is the easiest goddamned thing in the world.

She fell apart because that's what happens.