Some people don't realize that a straight 'No' can be the kindest answer in the world.

But you can try to read books at the wrong time or for the wrong reasons.

Objectivity is just male subjectivity.

It seems to me that you would have to write a novel on a very small, intimate scale for it not to become political.

The more melancholy side of my literary personality is much in tune with BS Johnson's.

I like the rain before it falls. of course there is no such thing, she said. That's why it's my favorite. Something can still make you happy, can't it, even if it isn't real.

I live a perfectly happy and comfortable life in Blair's Britain, but I can't work up much affection for the culture we've created for ourselves: it's too cynical, too knowing, too ironic, too empty of real value and meaning.