If I stop to think about fans, or best-selling, or not best-selling, or good reviews, or not-good reviews, it just becomes too much. It's like staring at the mirror all day. Jhumpa Lahiri More Quotes by Jhumpa Lahiri More Quotes From Jhumpa Lahiri The thought of Christmas overwhelms him. He no longer looks forward to the holiday; he wants only to be on the other side of the season. His impatience makes him feel that he is incontrovertibly, finally, an adult. Jhumpa Lahiri holiday adults looks I've never had Internet access. Actually, I have looked at things on other people's computers as a bystander. A few times in my life I've opened email accounts, twice actually, but it's something I don't want in my life right now. Jhumpa Lahiri internet-access bystanders people Being a writer means taking the leap from listening to saying 'Listen to me'. Jhumpa Lahiri inspiration writing mean That the last two letters in her name were the first two in his, a silly thing he never mentioned to her but caused him to believe that they were bound together. Jhumpa Lahiri silly love believe My parents had an arranged marriage, as did so many other people when I was growing up. My father came and had a life in the United States one way and my mother had a different one, and I was very aware of those things. I continue to wonder about it, and I will continue to write about it. Jhumpa Lahiri growing-up mother father In fiction, plenty do the job of conveying information, rousing suspense, painting characters, enabling them to speak. But only certain sentences breathe and shift about, like live matter in soil. Jhumpa Lahiri suspense jobs character Gogol is unaccustomed to this sort of talk at mealtimes, to the indulgent ritual of the lingering meal, and the pleasant aftermath of bottles and crumbs and empty glasses that clutter the table. Jhumpa Lahiri aftermath glasses meals Amid the gray, an incongruous band of daytime blue asserts itself. To the west, a pink sun already begins its descent. The effect is of three isolated aspects, distinct phases of the day. All of it, strewn across the horizon, is contained in his vision. Jhumpa Lahiri vision three blue I approach writing stories as a recorder. I think of my role as some kind of reporting device - recording and projecting. Jhumpa Lahiri roles writing thinking The most compelling narrative, expressed in sentences with which I have no chemical reaction, or an adverse one, leaves me cold. Jhumpa Lahiri chemical-reactions cold narrative I would not send a first story anywhere. I would give myself time to write a number of stories. Jhumpa Lahiri writing numbers giving And yet he had loved her. A Bookish girl heedless of her beauty, unconscious of her effect. She'd been prepared to live her life alone but from the moment he'd known her he'd needed her. Jhumpa Lahiri her-beauty girl moments She has given birth to vagabonds. She is the keeper of all these names and numbers now, numbers she once knew by heart, numbers and addresses her children no longer remember. Jhumpa Lahiri names heart children Writing is one of the most assertive things a person can do. Jhumpa Lahiri willfulness assertive writing Sexy means loving someone you donot know. Jhumpa Lahiri loving-someone sexy mean A lot of my upbringing was about denying or fretting or evading. Jhumpa Lahiri fretting upbringing But she has gathered that Americans, in spite of their public declarations of affection, in spite of their miniskirts and bikinis, in spite of their hand-holding on the street and lying on top of each other on the Cambridge Common, prefer their privacy. Jhumpa Lahiri bikinis lying hands Each day she removes a small portion of the unwanted things in people's lives, though all of it, she thinks, was previously wanted, once useful. She feels the sun scorching the back of her neck. The heat is at its worst now, the rains still a few months away. The task satisfies her. It passes the time. Jhumpa Lahiri rain people thinking She has the gift of accepting her life. Jhumpa Lahiri namesake accepting She watched his lips forming the words, at the same time she heard them under her skin, under her winter coat, so near and full of warmth that she felt herself go hot. Jhumpa Lahiri skins hot winter
