My great-grandfather was a self-taught man, and his library was extraordinary. I read the lot.

The public library is where I studied. It's where my grandfather taught himself English.

My attitude is that if anybody of any age wants to read a book, let them, but I do think that no child would want to read 'Boneland.'

I'm not a great shopper but I do buy a lot of books. I'm the publishers' friend - I buy a hundred books a year and read four.

My mother read nursery rhymes to me, and my grandmother told me folk stories, but as a child I had no interest in writing whatsoever.

He who attends to his greater self becomes a great man, and he who attends to his smaller self becomes a small man.