“She felt it snap into her head like a slide loading into a projector.”

“I busted my chin open trying to be Evel Knievel on my bike. When it happened, you could see straight through to the bone, I thought my dad was going to pass out. It left a scar that I still have now.”

“I think some people are good at being alone, and some people aren't, and as a child, I really liked it.”

“My typical morning involves some time on the treadmill, but obviously I skip that a lot. Mostly, I wake up, check my email, then get to work on the various interviews and questions and phone calls that come with being an author.”

“I love puns. I've been known to turn the car around just to take advantage of a good pun situation. It really is the highest form of humor.”

“Reading is not just an escape. It is access to a better way of life.”

“Maybe that's why Claire had perfected the art of invisibility. It was a form of self-preservation. You couldn't resent what you could not see. She was so quiet, but she noticed everything. Her eyes tracked the world like it was a book written in a language that she could not understand. There was nothing timorous about her, but you got the feeling that she always had one foot out the door. If the situation got too hard, or too intense, she would simply disappear.”

“I've always preferred crazy to stupid. Stupid can break your heart.”

“She felt it snap into her head like a slide loading into a projector.”