When I was 13 or 14, I started devouring novels; literature took quite a while to take me over, but it caught up just in time to save me from becoming a mathematician.
Mark HaddonAs a kid, I didn't read a great deal of fiction, and I've forgotten most of what I did read.
Mark HaddonAnd I go out of Father's house and I walk down the street, and it is very quiet even thought it is the middle of the day and I can't hear any noise except birds singing and wind and sometimes buildings falling down in the distance, and if I stand very close to traffic lights I can hear a little click as the colors change.
Mark HaddonBore children, and they stop reading. There's no room for self-indulgence or showing off or setting the scene.
Mark Haddon