“If a story is not about the hearer he [or she] will not listen . . . A great lasting story is about everyone or it will not last. The strange and foreign is not interesting--only the deeply personal and familiar.”
― East of Eden
― East of Eden
“I loved you so much once. I did. More than anything in the whole wide world. Imagine that. What a laugh that is now. Can you believe it? We were so intimate once upon a time I can't believe it now. The memory of being that intimate with somebody. We were so intimate I could puke. I can't imagine ever being that intimate with somebody else. I haven't been.”
― Where I'm Calling From: Selected Stories
― Where I'm Calling From: Selected Stories
“One thing in my defense, not that it matters: I know something Carter never knew, or Helene, or maybe you. I know what “nothing” means, and keep on playing. Why, BZ would say. Why not, I say.”
― Play It As It Lays
― Play It As It Lays
“Living up the Moyea with plenty of small chores to distract him, he forgot he was a sad man. When the hymns began, he remembered.”
― Train Dreams
― Train Dreams
“Our favorite people and our favorite stories become so not by any inherent virtue, but because they illustrate something deep in the grain, something unadmitted.”
― Slouching Towards Bethlehem
― Slouching Towards Bethlehem
mckenna’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at mckenna’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by mckenna
Lists liked by mckenna

















