Eddie discovered one of his childhood's great truths. Grownups are the real monsters, he thought.

You want to remember that while you're judging the book, the book is also judging you.

Good writing is often about letting go of fear and affectation. Affectation itself, beginning with the need to define some sorts of writing as 'good' and other sorts as 'bad' is fearful behavior.

That's the curse of the reading class. We can be seduced by a good story even at the most inopportune moments.

I watched Titanic when I got back home from the hospital, and cried. I knew that my IQ had been damaged.

Small towns harbor small imaginations.

What we like to think of ourselves and what we really are rarely have much in common.