If someone does learn about the world from reading a novel of mine, that makes me very happy. It's probably not what brings me into the novel in the first place - I usually am pulled in by some big question about the world and human nature that I'm not going to resolve in the course of the novel. But I'm very devoted to getting my facts straight.

I don't understand how any good art could fail to be political.

I've always seen the world through the eyes of a scientist. I love the predictable outcomes that science gives us, the control over the world that that can render.

I have my own sheep and I literally sheer the sheep and knot sweaters for friends and family from scratch.

Alice wonders if other women in the middle of the night have begun to resent their Formica.

Even feigning surprise, pretending it was unexpected and saying a ritual thanks, is surely wiser than just expecting everything so carelessly.

The power is in the balance: we are our injuries, as much as we are our successes.