I worry that's what people are going to think about me if they kind of go backwards. But if that didn't happen to you, I'll feel better.

I worry that's what people are going to think about me if they kind of go backwards. But if that didn't happen to you, I'll feel better.

Kenneth Branagh. There was a time in my life when people would tell me constantly that I look like him. I could do a lot worse than that.

Those who know New York City primarily through tourism or mass culture may think of us natives as possessing certain shared characteristics, not all of them flattering. But the true, volatile charisma of New York lies in how balkanised it is.

Luckily for you, you can close the book The Postman Always Rings Twice and break out of it, and James M. Cain can't. I can't think of any redeeming feature he has, but he's extremely compelling.

I seem to have a talent for writing endings that seem just right to me but that frustrate other people.

That's a long way of saying no, I'm always too bound up in thinking about the characters in whatever I'm working on and trying to make good to dwell on characters from previous books.