I don't want to sell other people trips! I want to be there!

A lot of books are sold and given away as presents. But who actually reads and enjoy reading?

One does have to learn to travel with a degree of humility and that reflected in writing and personality.

I realize how much [Mark] Twain fabricated things. I like it very much, but it's only half true. And it shows what he was trying to do, which was just entertain. Which he does very successfully, though the humor is almost dated now.

I wouldn't like to see Cuba change in other ways. And the trouble is when Fidel [Castro] does go - I am sure he will at some stage. He will probably be replaced by some sort of Western capitalism, ultimately.

I have dipped into Ian McEwan and so on. I tend not to stick with one writer. But I dip in here and there.

I have to be careful not to visit one place right after the other and write one book after the other. Because I fear writing the same book all over again. That's why I am taking a break and doing something different this time.