Aphorisms Are Bad For Novels. They Stick

The More I Like A Book, The More Slowly I Read. This Spontaneous Talking Back To A Book Is One Of The Things That Makes Reading So Valuable.

There Are Few Things More Subtly Distressing Than An Inappropriate Gift From Someone Close To You.

Sex Almost Always Disappoints Me In Novels. Everything Can Be Said Or Done Now, And That's What I Often Find: Everything, A Feeling Of Generality Or Dispersal. But In My Experience, True Sex Is So Particular, So Peculiar To The Person Who Yearns For It. Only He Or She, And No One Else, Would Desire So Very Much That Very Person Under Those Circumstances. In Fiction, I Miss That Sense Of Terrific Specificity.

When Friends Stop Being Frank And Useful To Each Other, The Whole World Loses Some Of Its Radiance.

Ruefulness Is One Of The Classical Tones Of American Fiction. It Fosters A Native, Deglamorized Form Of Anxiety.