Sean Flynn asked Gabrielle Zevin:

AJ's favorite short story is "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" I love this story myself because it raises the kinds of deep, philosophical questions that intrigue me -- particularly the ineffable nature of love. I have to know -- has this story always been his favorite? Or did it become his favorite through his experiences with the different types of love he finds in your book?

Gabrielle Zevin I read "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" as a freshman in college, and I suspect A.J. may have encountered it at a similar time in his life. This is to say -- we were both young and impressionable and so the story may have had a greater impact than if we had encountered it later. (Studies suggest it is easier to make a favorite when one is relatively early in one's reading life.) And yet -- I believe his life experience is the reason it has remained his favorite and not, say, been relegated to the dustbin of "stories I loved when I was nineteen." Its cleverness, its minimalism -- these are the things that appeal to the young man. The young AJ, the AJ who has not loved and lost and loved and lost, cannot understand the story in the way the older AJ can. So, to answer your question: yes and yes.

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