People gave names to things so they could tell stories about them, goddam fairy tales about children who got out alive.

The bullshit never ends. That’s the main thing to remember. It never ends.

Yes, we could solve for why, but we could also eat another slice of coconut cake.

When a translator translates my book, it is no longer just my book. It is the translator's book, too. So the book in another language is almost the work of two people. And that is quite interesting to me.

Of All the Gin Joints is one part cinematic history, one part old Hollywood weirdness, and one part handy basic bar guide, with a dash of romance and more than a few wry twists. Bailey and Hemingway prove themselves very entertaining cultural mixologists.

Dept. of Speculation is gorgeous, funny, a profound and profoundly moving work of art. Jenny Offill is a master of form and feeling, and she gets life on the page in new, startling ways.

No emotion or insight is too small to inflict on the world. Let it all fly. Don't let it eat you from the inside.