We get these lives for free. I didn't do anything to get this life, and no matter what the hardships are, it is free and, in a way, it's an extraordinary bargain.

Long before the idea of multiculturalism, in public people could say almost anything to you and get away with it.

It's extraordinary how many people read a book that's new and weird and befriend it.

I don't think I could have tackled 'The Pura Principle' until now. It takes me about twenty years to come to term with any difficult period in my life, to get enough of a grasp on it to fictionalize it.

Stereotypes, they're sensual, cultural weapons. That's the way that we attack people. At an artistic level, stereotypes are terrible writing.

I was, as a kid, really obsessed with reading... that was about as geeky as you could possibly get.