No, I said. I didn't remember that. There was so much to remember, sometimes the best thing was to forget.

If a man wishes to truly not be written about, he would do well not to write letters to 18-year-old girls, inviting them into his life.

For 25 years, I did take my responsibilities as a pleaser of others sufficiently seriously.

Not only did I avoid speaking of Salinger; I resisted thinking about him. I did not reread his letters to me. The experience had been too painful.

The vehemence with which certain critics have chosen not simply to criticize what I've written, but to challenge my writing this story at all, speaks of what the book is about: fear of disapproval.

Before I had children I always wondered whether their births would be, for me, like the ultimate in gym class failures. And I discovered instead... that I'd finally found my sport.

It troubles me that people speak about writing for money as ugly and distasteful.