I read little nonfiction, but I have no boundaries about the fiction I relish. The only unfailing criterion is that I can hitch my heart to the imagined world and read on.

My view is that popular fiction as it existed was just plain dumb, and literary fiction was either abstruse, or unbelievably boring.

The first time I remember really being excited about a book was 'The Count of Monte Cristo.'

You know, my mom, who inspired me to be a novelist, I remember her reading 'The Agony and the Ecstasy,' about Michelangelo, and saying, 'No mother would want that for her child, no matter how great the artist.' I have my share of demons, but I am a gregarious sort.

I read a lot of nonfiction - especially books about the brain.

There is no longer any such thing as fiction or nonfiction; there's only narrative.