Of course a magazine is usually more interesting than a conversation, because so much more time and preparation has gone into it.

I guess I consider myself at times to have intuition.

My boarding school experience was the only thing I had strong enough feelings to write about for hundreds and hundreds of pages. I can still smell the formaldehyde of the fetal pigs in biology.

It's different to read a book for pleasure than to read it analytically. In the past, I'd read Pride and Prejudice for pleasure. This time, I was really looking at the structure, the order of events, how the characters interact with each other and how the book is paced.

What greater happiness is there than the privilege of being bored together?

We have to make mistakes, its how we learn compassion for others

Personally, I have never wished I were a male novelist.