I have the same fantasy every time I read a book I love, no matter who wrote it, no matter when it was written. That the author has written his book only for me.

The story's what matters; spelling's overrated.

... every writer I had ever known wrote his best work when he had his back up against the wall and thought he would never write another word.

Had J.D. Salinger known who John Hinckley and mark David Chapman were before they bought his books or took them out of the library? Would it have mattered if he had? Had he returned the royalties he received from those purchases?

Maybe authors shouldn't write more than one or two books. Maybe you just keep writing the same book over and over anyway.

He admired writers whose own stories were as interesting as the ones they wrote.

I do listen fairly well, though, a talent people often mistake for trustworthiness.

He had no idea who bought his books, how they acquired the money to buy them. Perhaps they were saints, perhaps they were criminals...

That the author is speaking only to us, that he is writing only for us, that no one on Earth has the same relationship to that author as we do. I have the same fantasy every time I read a book I love, no matter who wrote it, no matter when it was written. That the author has written his book only for me.

The story’s what matters; spelling’s overrated.