Memory is quite central for me. Part of it is that I like the actual texture of writing through memory. I like the atmospheres that result if episodes are narrated through the haze of memory.

Memory is quite central for me. Part of it is that I like the actual texture of writing through memory.

The world is crawling with authors touring now. They're like performance artists.

I don't have a deep link with England like, say, Jonathan Coe or Hanif Kureishi might demonstrate. For me, it is like a mythical place.

My daughter is a freshman in college and my son is - well, our daughter and our son - is a sophomore in college. So they come home on selected weekends, they come home on vacations and they're home in the summer, although they have jobs.

I remember being shocked when I discovered some of my school pals didn't have books in their homes. I thought it was like not having oxygen, or hot water.

The nations of the West hope that by means of steam communication all the world will become as one family.

I started my career buying and owning single-family houses, and I know that's a really tough job. Toilets break. Trees fall. There are so many things that can go wrong. Land, on the other hand, is cheap to manage. It's painless, really. All you have to do is pay your taxes, and that's it.