For immigrant generations especially, family is the first structure, or shelter, for a people who are in exile.

Those of us who know the transporting wonder of a reading life know that it little matters where we are when we talk about books or meet authors or bemoan the state of publishing because when we read, we are always inside, sheltered in that interior room, that clean, well-lighted, timeless place that is the written word.

A tendency to make metaphorical connections is an occupational hazard for those of us who write.

Alice McDermott Quotes