For all the books in his possession, he still failed to read the stories written plain as day in the faces of the people around him.

The great thing about a short story is that it doesn't have to trawl through someone's whole life; it can come in glancingly from the side.

I read three books a week.

A memoir is always the most authentic telling of a situation, but a novel gets to different places.

I'm very interested in how idealistic young people can get caught up in all sorts of systems of extreme belief, you know, whether it's cults or whether it's suicide bombers.

Sometimes you must shed your skin to save it.

Ma's still nodding. "You're the one who matters, though. Just you." I shake my head till it's wobbling because there's no just me.