In a school community, someone who reads a book for some secretive purpose, other than discussing it, is strange. What was she reading for? - John Irving

He wanted to take Homer Wells in his arms, and hug him, and kiss him, but he could only hope that Homer understood how much Dr. Larch's self-esteem was dependent on his self-control.

Gender mattered a whole lot less to Shakespeare than it seems to matter to us.

...I suddenly realized what small towns are. They are places where you grow up with the peculiar-you live next to the strange and the unlikely for so long that everything and everyone become commonplace.