It's difficult for me to understand how it was possible to live under the Bush regime for eight years and then just roll over and do other things.

To me, the solidarity of readers is far more important than the solidarity of writers, particularly since readers in fact find ways to connect over a book or books, whatever they may be.

I gradually became aware that my interiority was inseparable from my exteriority, that the geography of my city was the geography of my soul.

The beauty of literature - also its limit - is that it is inescapably personal, even if you're writing science fiction.

The perfect borscht is what life should be but never is.

There is a logic [to my reading], but I can't define it. I like reading impulsively. I collect books, I have a lot of them, but most of them I have not read yet. I'll read them when they call me from the shelf.

Time does nothing but hand you down shabbier and older things.