I've always been interested in foreign relations. It's my belief that study of history should be our preparation for understanding the present rather than an escape from it.

I love to cook and I've cooked a lot of Bulgarian food over the years.

My publishers are wonderful because they have let me write what I wanted to. They're wise enough to know that, with any author who's not simply writing formulas - who's trying to create something new - pressuring them to do something for market purposes almost always backfires. I can't imagine working under those circumstances, actually.

I was filled with angst in college, that I struggled with the question of my future, the meaning of my life - spoiled sheltered rich girl collides with great books and is devastated by her own banality.

It was good to walk into a library again; it smelled like home.

I keep telling myself I should try very hard to write a novel of about 210 pages... I don't seem to be capable of it, but I keep hoping it will happen.

When you handle books all day long, every new one is a friend and a temptation.