I really wanted to be a musician, but it turned out I had no sense of time.

He made me think of all the books I hadn't read, and all the ones I'd read but hadn't fully understood.

I think I'm fascinated by the power of religion in our culture. Like a lot of secular, liberal people, I ignored it for a long time. Lately, of course, just from a political perspective, it's impossible to ignore.

I really wanted to be a musician, but it turned out I had no sense of time.

My mythic version of America is very much about parents and children, and in my experience, the suburban setting is where that particular drama plays out. Which isn't to say that there aren't parents and children in cities or on farms. I just don't know them.

I used to describe myself as a comic novelist, but my concerns seem to have darkened over the past few years.

Safe from the Neighbors is a novel of unusual richness and depth, one that's as wise about the small shocks within a marriage as it is about the troubled history of Mississippi. Steve Yarbrough is a formidably talented novelist, shuttling between the past and present with a grace that feels effortless.