Poetry is on earth to make you serene, not corrupt your mind, thoughts,or emotions

My hardcover sales are 17% down in books but up 400% in electronics.

Maybe we're all like that with our mothers. They seem ordinary until one day they're extraordinary.

Our words had to be circumspect. We could not write anything too negative about our circumstances. This was tricky, since the very form of a married woman's letter needed to include the usual complaints -- that we were pathetic, powerless, worked to the bone, homesick, and sad. We were supposed to speak directly about our feelings without appearing ungrateful, no-account, or unfilial.

Poetry is on earth to make you serene, not corrupt your mind, thoughts,or emotions

For my entire life I longed for love. I knew it was not right for me — as a girl and later as a woman — to want or expect it, but I did, and this unjustified desire has been at the root of every problem I have experienced in my life.

I know a lot about women and their suffering, but I still know almost nothing about men.