E-books are great for instant gratification - you see a review somewhere of a book that interests you, and you can start reading it five minutes later.

There is ecstasy in paying attention.

My mother was a not-too-devoted atheist. She went to Episcopal church on Christmas Eve every year, and that was mostly it.

You are going to love some of your characters because they are you or some facet of you, and you are going to hate some of your characters for the same reason.

You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.

Tell the truth as you understand it. If you're a writer, you have a moral obligation to do this. And it is a revolutionary act - truth is always subversive.

For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.