And what if I don't want forgiveness?

A book is a box brimming with incendiary material. The reader strikes the match.

The stones themselves are thick with history, and those cats that dash through the alleyways must surely be the ghosts of the famous dead in feline disguise.

I knew I was in England by the smell.

I don't necessarily read everything. I read what I need to read to inspire the book I'm trying to finish.

Venice, that capital city of dream and intrigue, that double city (one above and seemingly solid, one below, wavering and reflected in the waters), which never disappoints.

I have enormous pride in the survival of the Jewish people, the cultural heritage of the Jewish people, but I'm not observant, and I don't belong to a synagogue. I don't go to temple on high holy days, but I'm proud to be Jewish.