My perfect reader doesn't just read - he or she devours books.

A German philosopher once wrote that he who fights monsters must take care that he doesn't become one himself.

Show Holmes a drop of water and he would deduce the existence of the Atlantic. Show it to me and I would look for a tap. That was the difference between us.

It is, of course, traditional in children's literature to get rid of the parents.

I love the idea that magic and witchcraft and battles between supernatural creatures could be raging all around us but just out of our sight.

What happened?" he demanded. "I heard an explosion!" "Yeah.That was me. I set the boat alight." "What?" "I set fire to the boat." "But we're on the boat!" "I know.

He was a commander in the Russian army at a time when the Russians were our enemies and still part of the Soviet Union . This wasn't very long ago, Alex.The collapse of communism. It was only in 1989 that the Berlin Wall came down." She stopped. "I suppose none of this means very much to you." "Well, it wouldn't," Alex said. "I was only two years old.