"This album was introduced to me by John Legend who actually played the title song for me while we were writing—he played it on the piano and sang it at first. It was so striking, I said, 'What is that?" And then he played me the actual record and it instantly became a favorite for me. The way her voice breaks is so moving. She totally caught pure honesty and that's inspiring."

"My father in law, Victor Levenstein, just finished writing his own memoirs about his early life and surviving torture and forced labor in the Gulags. He met Solzhenitsyn while in exile and was in the same camp that is described in “A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”. I found this book to be deeply profound in observing humans at their absolute worst while never missing the big story of human nature."

"If I had to choose just one Wilco album to own this would be it if I could only be it. As consistently good as they are, there is something undeniably unique about this record. The song writing it beautiful but the production is what takes it over the top. Handled differently the record would be simply a fantastic indie folk record, but the strangely textured recording raises it up to become something entirely other."

"Who can really understand Bowles’ writing? Well, some people can, but not I. Nonetheless I love it, and it has the irrefutable hyper-reality of dreams. Only a very few other writers (Denis Johnson is one) have used American English with such exactitude and so cracklingly, have observed so fearlessly the emotional abysses that confront us, and are so deliriously funny. Claire Messud’s introduction to the recent Ecco edition is eloquent and insightful."

"Bowie has been a huge inspiration to me with regard to creating concept albums, new worlds and alter egos. When I heard this song for the first time, it took my music tastes to another level; I wanted my own writing to be just as interesting and clever. I once performed a cover of ‘Moonage Daydream’ with one of my favorite bands, Of Montreal. The song remains a source of inspiration for me."