Writing has never been that simple for me.

In Charleston, more than elsewhere, you get the feeling that the twentieth century is a vast, unconscionable mistake.

(You) don't leave the chicken to watch the feed.

These are the quicksilver moments of my childhood I cannot remember entirely. Irresistible and emblematic, I can recall them only in fragments and shivers of the heart.

Even today, I hunt for the fabulous books that will change me utterly. I find myself happiest in the middle of a book which I forget that I am reading, but am instead immersed in a made-up life lived at the highest pitch.

Basketball allowed me to revere my father without him knowing what I was up to. I took up basketball as a form of homage and mimicry.

But no one walks out of his family without reprisals: a family is too disciplined an army to offer compassion to its deserters.