"Jeanette Winterson has written many fabulous books, and I just think, ‘How does this woman sleep?’ This story is so intriguing. One of the things that’s amazing—I don’t know how far into the book I realized it—is that one of the main characters is referred to in a really unspecific way in terms of gender. But I don’t know if Winterson intends for people to know this before they read the book. It’s kind of like you choose what gender the narrator is. And she actually pulls this off without the story seeming confusing—and without you even really noticing what she’s done."

"This is the only investment guide I have read that truly made sense. Bottom line is that you can take a measure of risk on the $5,000 you have to invest in an attempt to earn 10% in the stock market, while praying that it all doesn’t disappear because someone bought too many yen derivatives. Or you can save 15% on the $5,000 a year you spend on replenishables, from toilet paper to cereal to who knows what, and put it in the bank on top of the original $5,000, earn an easy 5%, plus accrued interest, on the total and sleep very well at night."

"The novel begins “Long ago in 1945 all the nice people in England were poor, allowing for exceptions.” It’s in the bombed out London of 1945 at the end of the war in a shabby, genteel boarding house for young ladies called the May of Teck Club. We meet the various girls of slender means and follow their lives and love affairs. I love all Muriel Spark’s books and think she is witty and elegant and spiky and weird. I met her once in Italy when I was a teenager and she told me, “For the next ten years all you should do is sleep and go to parties.”"