But clearly life took people and shook them around until finally they were unrecognizable even to those who had once known them well. Still, there was power in once having known someone.

Books light the fire-whether it's a book that's already written, or an empty journal that needs to be filled in.

Being a teacher at a restaurant in the town where you lived was a little like being a TV star.

People could not get enough of what they had lost, even if they no longer wanted it.

I've been waiting for someone to sign the permission slip for me to write about sex. In the meantime, I've written about sex in all my books anyway.

I have never been much of a researcher

But it had no doubt sprung from true emotion, for all that parents ever wanted, really, was for you to love their child the way they did.