If I'm writing and a chapter isn't coming, I just move ahead.

I grew up in a house full of women: my mother, grandmother, three sisters, and two female cats. And I still have the buzz of their conversations in my head. As an adult, I have more female friends than male ones: I just love the way that women talk.

Always expect the unexpected. Right around Thanksgiving, when the new Alex Cross will be out. It's called Four Blind Mice and it's a pretty amazing story about several murders inside the military.

The fact is that our kids aren't reading books - or frankly, much of anything lately. Schools are under funded, some schools even closing their libraries. Parents have to realize that it's their job, and not the school's job, to get kids into the habit of reading for fun.

I think it's best to sit down and talk about what every family member wants out of the vacation so that everyone is really happy at the end of the day. If you can find a place that covers everyone's needs, and it's all under one roof, that's even better.

As a child, I studied violin. My sister, who's 10 years older, was the actress in the family. I was painfully shy.

It was not my wish to come into politics. I was not a public person; I preferred to spend my birthdays with family and friends. But the 2008 elections were fraudulent, so I decided to finance the opposition to make them stronger.

My father had the most horrible racist rhetoric you ever heard, but he treated people all the same. I remember this rainstorm. A car broke down with these black people in it, and nobody would stop. My dad was a mechanic. He fixed the car for nothing. I remember looking at him when he got back in. He said, 'Well, they got those kids in the car.'