New York is a wonderful place to be up, an awful place to be down.

Well, I'd say all of us are a combination of moods and emotions. In my day to day life I don't go around skipping, but at times one can feel sheer exhilarating joy at the world.

As a writer, I have readers who will have a range of political views. I don't think they look to me for political guidance.

You're always told by your publisher that you must only write one book a year and some years you should perhaps write none at all.

One of the most destructive things that's happening in modern society is that we are losing our sense of the bonds that bind people together - which can lead to nightmares of social collapse.