Jeannette Walls

Once I became the editor of the school newspaper, I had a key to the school, and I went to the school cafeteria and just took the food they threw away.

Books are my very favorite gift to give. If you give a book to someone and they really respond to it, you feel you've actually changed their life in some way.

Whenever I'm reading a book I enjoy, I always develop a mental list of the people I want to share it with.

One of the blessings of my childhood was being a fighter and a scrapper, but being a fighter and a scrapper is a curse, too.

Taking care of myself is central to my personality. I'm pathologically independent. There's no doubt that's one reason I never had children.

And as soon as the Internet hit and people started having their own web sites, I realized that people who did what I did, our positions were being threatened because, as journalists, we were the conduits between the celebrities and the public.

Donald Trump really understood how to float a story, how to float a rumor, how to manipulate the truth.

With a complicated childhood, you can either focus on the positive or the negative, and I chose to focus on the positive.

I loved 'Casablanca.' You know, right vs. wrong. I think I like a movie where there is a victory, right over wrong, but there's always some price to be paid.

I love Woody Harrelson. He's a fine actor.

My father, Rex, was one of the most charismatic human beings I've ever known, and also one of the most brilliant.

I didn't have indoor plumbing. I'd go to school dirty. I didn't have lunches.

I was going to some fabulous party, and my taxi got stuck in traffic, and I looked out the window, and I saw a homeless woman rooting through the garbage, and I realized it was my mother. And I was so mortified that I ducked down, and I hid.

I find books that have a moral and spiritual center, that speak to what is really important and lasting, hugely appealing.

When I was first getting out of college, Mom said, 'You ought to become a squatter.' I'm like, 'Forget it!'

What's wrong with social climbing? What's wrong with trying to improve your lot in life? And if you do, what happens if your family doesn't? Is that betraying your roots? Are you being dishonest? I had a really good job, and it paid really well. Am I supposed to quit it out of loyalty to my parents?

I had the big shoulders; I had the big hair. I loved the '80s. It was all about power women.

I have a joyful life, and I attribute that to both of my parents.

I was like, 'I'll take out garbage or do whatever it takes just to work at 'New York Magazine.' My god! I'd do anything!

I still dream about 'New York' mag. It's kind of weird. I dream I'm part-time, and they can't find a full-time job for me. It's usually that I can't find a lead, and I call all my great sources and say, 'Can you help me out?'

I was never really a party person.

I liked movers and shakers more than celebrities. I wasn't that interested in celebrities. I grew up without a TV.

I didn't want to be the daughter of the crazy people.

Kids are smarter than you realize.

I never thought 'The Glass Castle' would be a movie. It's just too complicated.