A dysfunctional family is any family with more than one person in it.

As a memoirist, I strive for veracity.

I don't have a copy of my books, and the degree to which I never read them is profound. I never look.

The truth is when I went to graduate school I would've said I was among the least talented of the students, I was certainly the least smart, or less educated. But I worked very hard.

Memoir is not an act of history but an act of memory, which is innately corrupt.

The words and sentences you take into your body from books are no less sacred and healing than communion. Surely at least one such person lives in your zip code.

Faith is a choice like any other. If you're picking a career or a husband - or deciding whether to have a baby - there are feelings and reasons pro and con out the wazoo. But thinking it through is - at the final hour - horse dookey. You can only try out.