Hell Is The Special Pain

At Difficult Times Of My Life, Books Have Been An Incredible Comfort. When I Was 12, I Changed Schools And My Parents Split Up. It Was Then That I Became Addicted To Reading. A Great Writer Can Attach Themselves To Your Mind And Heart, And You Feel You Understand The World Better. As Long As You Have The Capacity To Read, You Needn't Be Alone Any More. I Remember Thinking As A Child, "if I Could Give One Person The Comfort I Keep Getting From Books, Then I Want To Write."

What Is It About Men That Make Women So Lonely?

It's Like The Smell Of Burned Toast. You Made The Toast. You Looked Forward To It. You Even Enjoyed Making It, But It Burned. What Were You Doing? Was It Your Fault? It Doesn't Matter Anymore. You Open The Window, But Only The Very Top Layer Of The Smell Goes Away. The Rest Remains Around You. It's The Walls. You Leave The Room, But It's On Your Clothes. You Change Your Clothes, But It's In Your Hair. It's On The Thin Skin On The Tops Of Your Hand. And In The Morning, It's Still There.

As My Name Might Suggest, I'm Jewish. My Grandparents Were Polish And Russian Jews Who Came To Australia In The Late 1920s, And Had They Not, We Wouldn't Be Talking Now.

Hell Is The Special Pain That Dwells In That Loss Which You Yourself Have Caused