I went to college at Harvard, then did three years of graduate school at Yale. At both places I studied comparative literature. People find it odd that I went to both Harvard and Yale, and I guess it is odd, but that's just what people did where I grew up.

Being a writer can be isolating. It's good to be among readers and booksellers.

The paradox of the English country house is that its state of permanent decline, the fact that its heyday is always behind it, is part of the seduction, just as it is part of the seduction of books in general.

The main advantage of being a reviewer is that you read a lot. A lot of books get sent to you, and you have an amazing vantage point from which to observe what's going on in contemporary fiction - not only genre stuff, the whole spectrum.

Book tours are excellent things, and one is lucky to get to go on one, but they have a way of leeching away one's will to live.

The problem with growing up is that once you're grown up, the people who aren't grown up aren't fun anymore.

Don't take anyone's writing advice too seriously.