He wrote one more paragraph for his own sake, to see what he had to say.

The nicest characters in A Week in December research are, in fact, Muslims - and their religious devotion is one of the things that defines them.

That's what opium does to suffering: makes it of hypothetical interest only.

I have written millions of words about contemporary England - in journalism. Why don't I take it as the background for a novel? I may do one day. But the simple answer is that it does not excite the novelistic part of my brain; it does not fire it up.

They're so attached to their patterns that they've forgotten rule number one of human behavior: there are no patterns. People just do things. There's no such things as a coherent and fully integrated human personality, let alone consistent motivation.

The physical shock took away the pain of being.

But I think if any song can touch the heart, then one should value it.