I am selfish, private and easily bored. Will this be a problem?

It doesn't matter that you didn't believe in us," said Mr. Ibis. "We believed in you.

I used to get my best ideas from being bored, and now, if I even think I'm being faintly bored, I have two million Twitter followers I can engage with. It's great, but I also think it's important to be able to let your thoughts flow and percolate.

People are icebergs. So much of us is underneath.

In the case of 'Ocean at the End of the Lane,' it's a book about helplessness. It's a book about family, it's a book about being 7 in a world of people who are bigger than you, and more dangerous, and stepping into territory that you don't entirely understand.

I think if you decide that any book is about Only One Thing you're probably wrong. Even if that thing is in there.

I thought, I'm going to die. And, thinking that, I was determined to live.