I began reading in French. I didn't read in English until high school.

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

There is a insularity within American fiction even for adults. It's very tough for books in translation in the US.

I also read a lot of nonfiction. I just got "Nixonland" by Rick Perlstein. I felt like what with everything that is going on with the president [Donald trump] and the parallels with [Richard] Nixon's presidency, I needed to know more about the man.

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.

There are writers I return to no matter what I'm working on, writers like the South African J.M. Coetzee. He has an ability to make you feel that he is writing for you alone.

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