I've been a little bit obsessed with religion, without being a religious person, for about a decade.

There's not some finite amount of pain inside us. Our bodies and minds just keep manufacturing more of it.

From a distance, it makes perfect sense that the people and the things you think will save you are the very ones that have the power to disappoint you most bitterly, but up close it can hit you as a bewildering surprise.

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.

I'm used to adapting my novels for feature film - it can be challenging to cut and compress three or four hundred pages into two hours of dramatic action.

It's like the human race has been programmed for misery.

I no longer believe that just about everything is funny, if viewed from the proper angle.