I take six or seven years to write really small books. There is a kind of aesthetic of leanness, of brevity.

I am not much of a researcher as a novelist; I write mainly from experience.

As a child I read all kinds of stuff, whether it was 'Asterix and Obelix' and 'Tin Tin' comic books, or 'Lord of the Rings,' or Frank Herbert's sci-fi. Or 'The Wind in the Willows.' Or 'Charlotte's Web.'

I believe one can gauge a book's impact only after about 10 years.

I think there's really strong social stratification in South Asia.

Part of the reason people abroad resent the United States is something Americans can do very little about: envy. The richest, most powerful country in the world attracts the jealousy of others in much the same way that the richest, most powerful man in a small town attracts the jealousy of others.