I'm one of those unlucky people who had a happy childhood.

I like the rain before it falls. of course there is no such thing, she said. That's why it's my favorite. Something can still make you happy, can't it, even if it isn't real.

Well, I like the rain before it falls.

I like the idea of a big caesura between the narratives, a space which readers can fill in with their own speculative history.

The plain fact is that she never really liked me, and never wanted me. I had been a mistake; and that, to some extent, is what I remain in my own eyes, to this day. The knowledge never goes, can never be undone. You just have to find a way to live with it.

For many weeks after [my wife] died, I could not get used to the feeling of coldness and lifelessness on her side of the bed - and it was even worse when they took the body away and buried her.

But you can try to read books at the wrong time or for the wrong reasons.