"Davis is the ultimate prose stylist and this collection of short fiction proved addictive on many a late night. Her narrators are quirky, self-conscious, and sometimes humorously obsessive. Many of the stories are only a page or two long. But within those pages are observations that reveal the precise tics and nuances that make us indelibly who we are."

"In my 30s I tried to teach myself classical Greek so I could read Homer and Sophocles. Of course I failed because their words were mouthed not read. But the stories Homer retold of the fall of empires and the longing for home are as vivid today as a thousand years ago. From him I learned why I love grilled meats."

"I heard a smart person say once that short stories were the ideal form to receive and integrate information. Whether it’s completely true or not, the idea has stayed with me, and if you were trying to argue the point, “I Knew You’d Be Lovely,” could be held up as Exhibit A. Emotionally, no work(s) of fiction ever moved me more thoroughly."

"All of my favourite films are approaching realism in a different way. This is Italian neorealism – obviously there’s a script and a story and everything, but it’s shot in the street and it has the feel of Italy, of being in the streets and, like Idaho, a deceivingly, simply constructed narrative. But there’s so much emotion that’s evoked from these very simple stories."