The greatest books in Russian literature are satires. Gogol's Dead Souls, for example, is a very over-the-top satire about life in Russia. I think it's the thing we do best.

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

That's what tyrants do, I guess. They make you covet their attention; they make you confuse attention for mercy.

I felt the weakness of these books, their immateriality, how they had failed to change the world, and I didn't want to sully myself with their weakness anymore.

The best thing about the iPhone is this that tells me where I am all the time. Theres never a need to feel lost anymore.

I always think that good writers should be growing up on the brink of death - it really lets them see mortality very clearly.

If you read only one memoir by a disaffected, urban, 20-something Jewish girl this year, make it this one. Shukert rocks the lulav.