In some ways, I think it's the closest that we come to the truth — is in the form of fiction.

Immigration, a lexicon. You're a 'migrant' when you're very poor; 'immigrant' when you're not so poor; and 'expat' when you're rich.

I [read] "The Book of Unknown Americans," which is by a friend of mine, Cristina Henriquez, and is about two Latino, immigrant families who live in Delaware. I'm interested in reading things from different perspectives.

In some ways, I think it's the closest that we come to the truth — is in the form of fiction.

Few [books] get translated and the ones that do have trouble making it into the mainstream. It's more likely that Americans will discover another culture through an American writer rather read a writer from that culture.

Thing that was very different for me is that an American child's reading is filled with Americans.

Historical novels, in particular, allow us to relive the past without the neatness of history, and with all the complexity of the present.