I feel as if I'm clearly part of a trend among writers who take themselves seriously - and I confess to taking myself as seriously as the next writer.

Certain kinds of things that the novel used to do, which was, "Oh, I'm living out here in West Nowhere, Nebraska and I'm curious how the upper class in New York City lives, I guess I'll read a novel about it." We don't have to do that now. You just turn on the TV. Turn on Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous. You can get that information anywhere. Novels don't have to do that anymore.

I feel that working environmentalists are, in the main, happier than armchair environmentalists.

Everything he did was at least partial and often total bullshit” (402).

I find it a huge strain to be responsible for my tastes and be known and defined by them.

I was about 13, in some ways, when I wrote the first book. Approximately 18 when I wrote the second.

Good novels are produced by people who voluntarily isolate themselves and go deep, and report from the depths on what they find.