Quotes from Stephen McCauley

Jill Eisenstadt's comic second novel, 'Kiss Out,' is a work of such extravagant wackiness, eccentricity, and exuberance that any attempt to squeeze it into the confines of a simple plot summary seems doomed to failure and is possibly pointless.

I wish I could calculate my way to a bigger audience, but I don't think I'm smart enough. Actually, I don't think anyone is smart enough. Most calculations along those lines fail.

Jill Eisenstadt is a writer of many admirable gifts. Foremost among them are a sharp eye for people, a playful love of language, and, it's probably safe to assume, nearly boundless energy.

One of my pleasures is observing people's behavior and pointing out the inconsistencies that we all sort of have at the center of our lives.

I write in public libraries and sometimes coffee shops. I can't write at home and gave up trying long ago. I need activity around me that I'm forced to block out. It helps me focus.

My partner and I weed through our bookshelves and throw stuff out regularly.

When you're laughing aloud at David Sedaris' every sentence, it's easy to miss the more serious side of what he's up to.

It's really fun to write something for kids. You can make it a little bit more extreme and crazy than you would for adults.

The book that made me cry hardest was 'Stoner,' by John Williams.

Early on, I got some criticism from other gay writers and queer theorists for being too 'assimilationist,' probably because my characters are outsiders, even in the gay world.

Ultimately, Cole Porter's music might say more about his life than any biography could. His songs, with their witty lyrics and debonair style, are an advertisement for his personality and his public persona.

I'm not a particularly disciplined person in terms of my work habits.

I guess I have an aversion to writing about big events and heroic actions. The everyday has always seemed most important to me in writing, probably because I believe people reveal themselves in how they deal with small details.

It's hard to imagine anyone accusing Lionel Shriver of being a timid writer.

The only responsible way to write about anything is with honesty.

From what I can tell, the chief distinguishing factor between children and adults is that children hear everything while appearing not to and adults hear nothing while pretending to listen.

Among the many hypocrisies of the "religious" was the fact that they viewed god as omnipotent, but treated Him like a ventriloquist's dummy by putting their words and crackpot beliefs, prejudices, and unfounded biases into His mouth whenever it suited their purposes.

All couples start off as Romeo and Juliet and end up as Laurel and Hardy.

When everything looks perfectly right about a person, there's usually something significantly wrong. They were probably in their early thirties, that awkward age when people still believe they matter and that life is going to go their way.

We all have a central fiction about ourselves, a favored delusion about talent or untapped potential. Most of us hang on to it as if it were a lifesaver, even though the obsession with it is often the very thing that drags us down and prevents us from fulfilling some lesser but more obtainable goal.

The only thing relationships needed in common was love—of some kind—and true love was rarely the result of a shared fondness for quilting.

Why do you suppose it is... that the idea of being young again is so appealing when being young the first time around was such hell?

Everything had been a battle of wills, an opportunity for him to lecture her, another reason for him to correct her faulty logic or lack of information.

Julie had always believed that even if it's the big, unexpected events (good and bad) that make life memorable and occasionally exciting, it's the small, predictable routines that hold life together and make it worth living.