I wrote about four novels before I wrote a word of journalism.

Too often students are being taught to read as if literature were some kind of ethics class or civics class—or worse, some kind of self-help manual. In fact, the important thing is the way the writer uses the language.

I know a lot of Eastern Europeans, and because of what they have been through and what they have seen, they have an attitude where they are not easily fooled.

When we humans speak, we are not merely communicating information but attempting to make an impression and achieve a goal.

Like most-maybe all- writers, I learned to write by writing and, by example, by reading books.

I wrote about four novels before I wrote a word of journalism.

Like seeing a photograph of yourself as a child, encountering handwriting that you know was once yours but that now seems only dimly familiar can inspire a confrontation with the mystery of time.