I write about kids growing up, I write a lot about schools and parents, and all of my experiences with those things have been suburban experiences.

When things don't go well, it helps to think of yourself as a genius and the rest of the world as a bunch of idiots.

From a distance, it makes perfect sense that the people and the things you think will save you are the very ones that have the power to disappoint you most bitterly, but up close it can hit you as a bewildering surprise.

I did a lot of reading of the Bible and became fascinated with the idea of the Rapture. It's pretty wild. I hadn't heard of it until I was in college.

When I was writing 'The Abstinence Teacher,' I really tried to immerse myself in contemporary American evangelical culture.

I've been a little bit obsessed with religion, without being a religious person, for about a decade.

I find that even small changes sometimes jog you out of a mental rut.