The Sky Was Electric Blue Above The

I Felt More Doubtful Than Usual With 'goon Squad,' Because I Knew That The Book's Genre Wasn't Easily Named - Novel? Stories? Novel-in-stories? - And I Worried That Its Lack Of A Clear Category Would Count Against It. My Hopes For It Were Pretty Modest.

I Guess It's Always Romantic When Two People Fall In Love.... Even If It Turns Out Not To Be Real.

I Listened To Classic Rock And Roll, And Punk Rock. 'goon Squad' Provides A Pretty Accurate Playlist Of My Teenage Years, Though It Leaves Out 'the Who,' Which Was My Absolute Favorite Band.

But I Always Need To Identify With A Character To Write About Him Or Her - And By "identify," I Mean See The World Through That Person's Eyes And Have A Strong Sense Of The Inner Logic Of Their Acts And Decisions, Wacky Or Wrongheaded Though They Might Be. In That Sense, I Think There's Some Of Me In All Of Them.

Kathy Was A Republican, One Of Those People Who Used The Unforgivable Phrase "meant To Be"--usually When Describing Her Own Good Fortune Or The Disasters That Had Befallen Other People.