I'd never understood the injunction not to regret anything, couldn't see how that wasn't cowardice.

I have danced with the spider. I have cut a caper with the dancing mad god.

Books are always obviously having conversations with other books, and some times they're amiable and sometimes not.

Remember the movements that don't look like moving.

I'll never be a minimalist. The fact that the prose is more tightly controlled doesn't for a minute mean that it's minimalist. I very much like arcane words and baroque sentence structure.

I like the idea of trying to write a book in every genre.

I remember vividly what it's like to read as a 10-year-old - that passionate inhabiting of a book.