He made me think of all the books I hadn't read, and all the ones I'd read but hadn't fully understood.

When things don't go well, it helps to think of yourself as a genius and the rest of the world as a bunch of idiots.

I was also known as Frodo because I was an early adopter of 'The Lord of the Rings.

I write about kids growing up, I write a lot about schools and parents, and all of my experiences with those things have been suburban experiences.

She would be a mentor and an inspiration to girls like herself, the quiet ones who'd sleepwalked their way through high school, knowing nothing except that they couldn't possibly be happy with any of the choices the world seemed to be offering them.

I used to describe myself as a comic novelist, but my concerns seem to have darkened over the past few years.

My mythic version of America is very much about parents and children, and in my experience, the suburban setting is where that particular drama plays out. Which isn't to say that there aren't parents and children in cities or on farms. I just don't know them.