When I was a teenager, I had trouble getting a boyfriend, so I imagined Arthur Rimbaud or Bob Dylan as my boyfriend.

I have loved books all my life. There is nothing more beautiful in our material world than the book.

I was like one of the boys in school who flap their legs frantically under the desk. I always had this weird feeling between my legs and I had no idea what it was. I didn't know girls masturbated. I never touched myself or anything.

I wasn't thinking so much of music. I wasnt thinking so much of perfection or stardom or any of that stuff.

By the time I was 10 or 11, I was completely demoralized. I thought, "I'm done. I'm never going to be a missionary," because my indiscretion column, whether it was little lies or stealing a Chunky bar, kept me from sainthood.

I understood that in this small space of time we had mutually surrendered our loneliness and replaced it with trust.

It was no hardship to me to spend long hours reading and writing.