. . . strange and fantastic things really happen. During a rainstorm in Australia, fish fall from the sky; several Southern states consider legislation that would make the licking of toads illegal; Lisa Presley marries Michael Jackson. You read these things and you think to yourself that realism may not be the best medium through which to express the real world.

It was the marriage that was important; Jane Austen rarely even bothered to write about the wedding.

I once broke up with a boy because he wrote me an awful poem.

Trees are as close to immortality as the rest of us ever come.

In general, librarians enjoyed special requests. A reference librarian is someone who likes the chase. When librarians read for pleasure, they often pick a good mystery.

Lots of people go mad in January. Not as many as in May, of course. Nor June. But January is your third most common month for madness.

There was something appealing in thinking of a character with a secret life that her author knew nothing about. Slipping off while the author's back was turned, to find love in her own way. Showing up just in time to deliver the next bit of dialogue with an innocent face.