Good bands you can kind of lose, then come back and realize they're still good.

In college I studied '60s and '70s radicalism, student activism, forms of political violence, groups like the Weathermen, the Black Panthers, the Symbionese Liberation Army, the New Left.

I think every writer has a book that haunts them, and on some level, every book you write is a reaction to it. 'Lolita' is that book for me. Nabokov's love of wordplay, descriptive detail, artfully complex plots, and his themes of obsession and lost love, are inspiring.

I hate to think of a day where a compelling book or a compelling authorial voice would be lost simply because that person doesn't have a Web site. But I think that, to use the Internet in a positive way, to turn people on to reading, is something that authors shouldn't really shy away from necessarily.

Obviously I ask my family and loved ones for advice here and there, but I kind of have a rule with the people I love that surround me - close family and close friends - that unless I ask for it, I don't really want advice thrown out.

A tiny apartment might hold three generations of an immigrant family.

I think I feel most like a princess when I'm sort of bursting with happiness and love, so whether that would be, like, with my boyfriend or my family or at a really fun party - just when you're full of life.

When I was superintendent of Denver Public Schools, I saw the potential of some of our best and brightest students cut short, punished for the actions of others - kids who had grown up and done well in our school system, and kids who know no other home but America. This is unacceptable.