“Books like Munro's are so deeply personal and idiosyncratic that it fe...” — Ben Dolnick Quote

“Books like Munro's are so deeply personal and idiosyncratic that it feels like a violation to subject them to the crude business of committee meetings and PR releases; you might as well storm a butterfly den with a klieg light.”

“There's something to be said for a likable character, but fiction has a way of upending our ordinary standards.”

“To learn a piece on the piano - even a simple one - has proved every bit as agonizing as writing a chapter in a book, every bit as tedious and hopeless and halting. But this is not to say that the piano hasn't helped my writing. It has, just not in the ways I expected.”

“The hazard of confessional books is how fast the world moves on while they're written.”

“I honestly think I was an Indian living in the time of the Trail of Tears. Something like that. Every time I read books about back then, I get so devastatingly sad, so, so... I feel such a deep connection to it.”

“I think 'The Lord Of The Rings' is the mother of all cult books, because you can be in that cult and not even know you're in it.”