You can figure out who you were by which movies you loved when

I couldn't have foreseen all the good things that have followed my mother's death. The renewed energy, the surprising sweetness of grief. The tenderness I feel for strangers on walkers. The deeper love I have for my siblings and friends. The desire to play the mandolin. The gift of a visitation.

Good art is art that allows you to enter it from a variety of angles and to emerge with a variety of views.

Linda Tripp has shown that a true friend is an archivist, a biographer.

Worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum.

Books are like blankets, the mere sight of them around the house provides warmth and comfort. They are like mirrors, too, reflecting places I've been, phases I've been through, people I've loved or thought I did.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.