Part of the transaction between writer and reader is the pleasure of building a community and encouraging people to play along.

When I listen to music - I don't particularly do it for fun all that much. It's not a big part of my life, and I'm not really on top of what's happening in the world of music in the way I was when I was a teenager.

All books should be trilogies; I mean I think we all agree on that.

This is not to say there are not Chicagoans. But I would suggest that they are a nomadic people, whose lost home exists only in their minds, and in the glowing crystal memory cells they all carry in the palms of their hands: a great idea of a second city, lit with life and love, reasonable drink prices at cool bars, and, of course, blocks and blocks of bright and devastating fire.

I would say 70 percent of people who are in therapy are in therapy not because of their upbringing, not because of their mean sister or obsessions, but because of anxiety brought about by lack of financial security.

Well, I always had this desire to celebrate and somehow be a part of things that I thought were really great.

Part of the transaction between writer and reader is the pleasure of building a community and encouraging people to play along.