There are different types of readers. People draw lines at which three things intersect: the character, the author, and the reader.

Why are some people highly principled and willing to do anything for their principles, while most of us are not? And I am willing to not only ask, but also answer the question.

Here I am: a Russian-speaking Jew living in Canada, and you, an Indian ex-patriot living in San Francisco. All of a sudden we commune in this moment about a much older Russian political dissident.That's the human part of being human: feeling those moments.

I spent seven years writing The Free World. There are a lot of things I accomplished there that I'm very proud of, but I didn't want to spend another seven years writing a book like that.

We all have some ideological quotient in ourselves. And I think it does guide who we are.

I think every book is a reaction to everything you're written before, and most immediately to the book you wrote just before.

We are taught that we can be better than we are. But is there a limit to how good we can be?