Insights don't usually arrive at my desk, but go into notebooks when I'm on the move. Or half-asleep.

But an experienced reader is also a self-aware and critical reader. I can't remember ever reading a story without judging it.

History is always changing behind us, and the past changes a little every time we retell it.

In my 20s I was in constant pain from undiagnosed endometriosis. With no prospect of a cure, I decided I needed a career - writing - that could accommodate being ill.

If we say the purpose of life is our children, that's neither a purpose nor a meaning. But I'm sure I will be as besotted as everybody else when I have them.

There's one must in life: whatever job you do, wherever you are, whatever age you have, how much experience you have, you have to keep performing at the top level otherwise someone else will take your place.

The dominant characteristic of an authentic spiritual life is the gratitude that flows from trust - not only for all the gifts that I receive from God, but gratitude for all the suffering. Because in that purifying experience, suffering has often been the shortest path to intimacy with God.

In fact the experience at Oxford has really helped me later in life.