Commanded by God dozens of times in the Hebrew Bible to remember their past, Jews historically obeyed not by recording events but by ritually re-enacting them: by understanding the present through the lens of the past.

I am much more aware of making the plot more original, avoiding contrivance, having the story matter much more. I used to think more about symbols consciously. Now I think much more about the story.

Sibling relationships figure in a lot of my books. You don't often see relationships between adult siblings explored in fiction.

I think all parents have a double life.

I wouldn't be where I am today without the amazing public arts education that I had.

When you become a wrestler at 35 and your career takes off at 40, nobody believes in you. But there are some people out there who watch how I did it, and I did it through intense work ethic.

Grades are almost completely relative, in effect ranking students relative to others in their class. Thus extra achievement by one student not only raises his position, but in effect lowers the position of others.

When stuck years ago in a job I hated, my only friend was the public bench. As the tedious mornings dragged on, how I would long for the lunch hour, when I would be able to escape the torture of the office and stroll over to the churchyard and into the comforting wooden embrace of one of its benches.