“The problem was that talent couldn't be willed into being. Ethan murmured something appropriate for each drawing he came to. It was like an extremely stressful game show called 'Say The Right Thing, You Idiot.' ”

Meg Wolitzer, The Interestings

I couldn’t sleep last night so instead I stayed up with this book. Totally worth it.

“What matters in a big way is subject matter and men with very few exceptions, won’t read books about women. Something nebulous and thought-based – a book of ideas – people seem much more willing to have that from a man than a woman. If you’ve written a powerful book about a woman and your publisher then puts a “feminine” image on the cover, it ‘types’ the book. Serious books with ‘dreamy’ covers – many with women in water, floating or swimming, as though what’s contained within is a kind of dreamy inessential thing – the covers themselves are off-putting. Very few men want to go into what appears to be this sort of dream world.”