The love I felt for her on that train ride had a capital and provinces, parishes and a Vatican, an orange planet and many sullen moons -- it was systemic and it was complete.

I don't have many possessions, apart from my books.

I write almost entirely in bed or on a couch with my feet up on the coffee table. I feel most creative when Im looking out the window, and my bed and couch have nice views of the New York skyline.

My mother cranes her neck. Her ability to be fascinated by things is her best gift to me.

A lot of the ways of advertising a book - the cover, whether somebody sees it on a subway or sees it in a bookstore - those things are going to rapidly diminish as we move to an electronic model.

I have my own dying empire to contend with, and I do not wish for any other.

We're people of the Orient. We know everything. And what we don't know, we can sense.