What went wrong? Nothing and everything.

It takes a child to say the unsayable.

Books are, let's face it, better than everything else. If we played Cultural Fantasy Boxing League, and made books go fifteen rounds in the ring against the best that any other art form had to offer, then books would win pretty much every time.

It's love this and love that but of couse it's so easy to love someone you don't know, whether it's George Clooney or Monkey. Staying civil to someone with whom you've ever shared Christmas turkey- now there's a miracle.

But I suspect that all writers come up with premises of some kind, fragments of narrative or scenarios, in the course of a working week.

Unhappiness really meant something back then. Now it's just a drag, like a cold or having no money.

You'll remember someone who broke your heart, and you'll think to yourself, 'Oh yes, I remember how that feels.' But you can't.