“She also understood there was a hole in her heart where her son should be, that she was a wicked, selfish woman for wishing him back.”

“She was no stripper with a heart of gold, that was for sure. A heart of steel, more like.”

“Its not like I planned it. I never woke up from some rosy dream and said, Okay, world, today Im gonna spaz.”

“We didnt want to admit it then, but we were friends. Best friends.”

“A woman brings so much more to the world than birth, for she can birth discovery, intelligence, invention, art, just as well as any man.”

“Using ones beauty was the only way a smart girl could get by, at least thats how it was back then, though even for a smart girl there were really only three professions. You could be a nurse or a t...”

“Why are we reading, if not in hope of beauty laid bare, life heightened and its deepest mystery probed? Can the writer isolate and vivify all in experience that most deeply engages our intellects a...”

“Statistically, if you're reading this sentence, you're an oddball. The average American spends three minutes a day reading a book. At this moment, you and I are engaged in an essentially antiquated...”

“Write only if you wish to read it again and again...”

“Just because it's fiction doesn't mean it's any less true.”

“Oh, Sweetie. No one ever gets through their TBR list. For every book you finish, you'll add five more. That's just the way it works.”

“If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”

“Reading a book is an intimate experience that can change people's lives in profound ways. It also changes the life of its author.”

“There was a day when writers actually read," he grumbles. "They could quote Keats and Socrates. Now anyone with a keyboard and a fifth-grade education can call themselves a writer.”

“Every story is a ride to some place and time other than here and now. Buried in an armchair, reclined on a couch, prostrate on your bed, or glued to your desk, you can go places and travel through ...”