The radio station was playing Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, a sure sign that things were much worse than they appeared.

Also, I've spent an entire week without reading any books or talking about them too loudly. I'm learning to work my apparat's screen, the colourful pulsating mosaic of it, the fact that it knows every last stinking detail about the world, whereas my books only know the minds of their authors.

I am born hungry. Ravenous. I want to eat the world, and I can never be satiated.

My first book really did change my life. It allowed me to fully express myself. There was a sense that I was worth something as an artist.

Communications devices were always used to effect change, to effect revolution. Telephone, telegraph - these all seemed like very big enhancements at the time.

American fiction is good. It would be nice if somebody read it.

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