Quotes from Jami Attenberg

There is nothing original I can offer this child. I am obligated to make an offering, however, a virgin to the gods, a stuffed animal to a new baby. If I lay this gift on the altar, will you promise me I'll never get pregnant? I

I can tell you something remarkable about that time, although it has only just occurred to me now. I never thought about death, like I do now. I never worried about dying. I only ever thought about being alive.

I've had enough me to last a lifetime,

my hand, I said her name.

Men never really wanted your help anyway, she thought. They wanted you to do things for them, but it would never be thought of as help so much as required service

One more drink and we're sharing our rape stories. Nearly every woman I know has one. If I had a nickel for every time I've heard one of these stories I could buy an enormous, plush pillow with which to smother my tear-stained face.

To be an artist means a lifetime of being told no, with the occasional yes showing up just to give you enough hope to carry on. I am beginning to realize I don't want to be rejected my entire life. Felicia

She had done everything he wanted, and tonight it didn't matter. He was the man who preferred the empty room all along. Not these things, not these children, not her. He wanted his steak and his wine and his Scotch, and a young waitress he could bully to bring it to him, and after that, where he slept didn't matter.

There was nothing particularly extraordinary about the crimes he committed, Barbra thought, except that when he was caught, he was never held accountable, and even that was no big surprise.)

I have watched Occupy Wall Street mostly from the sidelines.

I actually didn't grow up in a household that loved Chinese food particularly, and it's not really my go-to food or anything... We were more a pizza family, being from the Chicago area and all.

In your 40s, you shed those who bring you down and surround yourself with the most positive people you know.

When does an object become a symbol? All I know is you cannot force it.

The best thing about the Web is the sound of all the individual voices rising.

My Twitter feed is probably my biggest resource of news. Other people scour the web so I do not have to, and I thank them for it.

An ellipsis is a giant ocean of possibilities.

In addition to public housing, South Williamsburg is home to shabby artists' lofts like mine, apartments of Hasidic Jews, and one extremely tall, high-priced condo.

My parents are still married. They don't weigh 350 pounds; they go to the gym all the time.

What a character eats is a detail - like eye color or a favorite song. But food is also our lifeblood.

In 1998, I started a blog, something I could control very easily and update at my own whim.

There are generations of people who don't know how to eat properly.

Maybe I wouldn't hit three fast food restaurants in a day, but I could hit one in a day. I try not to do that.

I was fat because my parents were a little fat themselves at that point in their lives, and I ate what they ate.

Maybe just as many women writers as male writers could be billed as the next great American writer by their publisher. Maybe book criticism sections could review an equal amount of female and male writers. Maybe Oprah could start putting some books by women authors in her book club, since most of her audience is women.