A reader is entitled to believe what he or she believes is consonant with the facts of the book. It is not unusual that readers take away something that is spiritually at variance from what I myself experienced. That's not to say readers make up the book they want. We all have to agree on the facts. But readers bring their histories and all sets of longings. A book will pluck the strings of those longings differently among different readers.

Very early you come to the realization that nothing will ever take you away from yourself.

I don't want to be taken to Bhutan and smell the flowers. I want to be told something I couldn't have been told any other way.

You're only good if you can do bad and decide not to.

I started reading literature at 17 or 18, and I felt this extra beat to life.

My father died in my arms. That's tumult. That's everything exploding.

Paul Ryan's just a really, deeply evil little creature. But he's not little; he's actually quite tall, I'm sorry to see. I'm always sorry when really bad guys are tall.