[Jane Smiley is renowned for the variety and originality of her work. Writing in the] Washington Post Book World ... one of the premier novelists of her generation, possessed of a mastery of craft and an uncompromising vision that grows more powerful with each book.

I tell the kids that, even in a childhood marked by despair and deprivation, I knew that no matter what happened, I still had my family, or at least the remnants of a family ripped apart by divorce and then glued back together in various odd arrangements through a series of ill- advised remarriages. It was good to know I had a solid foundation.

Everything is a narrative in life. I learned that early on as a reporter at the 'Washington Post.'

This morning in the Washington Post there was a statistic about how 85% of Americans are Christians.

Saying the Washington Post is just a newspaper is like saying Rasputin was just a country priest.

Let us never underestimate the power of a well-written letter.