Men are much more likely to believe sex work is not work. They don't want to believe that it is laborious to engage with them. They believe their beating hearts are fascinating and that they should fascinate whomever they are fascinated by. They don't understand how ordinary they are.

Our country is built on these two primal sins: the sin of slavery and the sin of genocide. We can’t really become a fully functioning, mature country unless we own up to how we started.

Ordinary people don’t go out looking for mythical drug dealers after mistaken identity encounters; that’s an insane thing to do and I don’t recommend it.

An argument can be made that the big houses are really in the business of publishing cookbooks, celebrity memoirs, and adult coloring pads.

And this is very often the case, that it’ll take only moments for me to sense that I’ve found the right next book — when this is happening, in those rare and wonderful moments, I actually feel somewhat physically unwell. It’s like I’m literally being overwhelmed by what I’m reading.

Memoirs are bullshit to some degree. I don’t mean memoirists are liars; some might be, most are not. I know memoirists try to be scrupulous and try not to deviate from what they remember. It’s the last few words of my sentence where the bullshit comes in. Of course what you remember is a lie or a distortion.

I am still a little surprised by how deeply interested I am in moral choices. Clearly I was paying more attention in my Scottish Sunday school than I realized. I remain deeply puzzled -- I’d have to say indignant -- that as adults we can find ourselves in situations where there is no obvious right thing to do.

Barcelona is a bilingual city where two languages mix together with no problem, and it’s very common to take part in conversations where every participant speaks in the language he or she finds most comfortable. That’s why I turn to so many words in Catalan: they are floating in the ether.

Nineteenth-century doctor John Harvey Kellogg had an obsession with masturbation. Kellogg's cereal was invented to keep bowels and genitals clear of congestion.

If you actually met them you’ll know they spend eight years doing nothing, two months outlining, then they sell a partial, and then they go to the MacDowell Colony and write the book in three weeks. That’s what everybody does.

People who take for granted the shared culture aren’t as interesting because they don’t have any insight into it.

This isn’t something that you hear discussed or praised much these days, but other writers do support each other. Their community is real and valuable. I wouldn’t have made it through this book without them.

The better my language skills get, the more I’m aware of, the more I’m able to penetrate. It’s fantastic. It’s been unlocking this secret cave full of riches I could never access before. It’s a midlife gift -- both as a person and as a reporter.

I am constantly evaluating the sounds of words -- both lyrically and sonically. Where do they mesh? Where does the tone or the pace shift? What section should be played "Lento," "Legato," "Fuerte," "Fortissimo."

A lot was made a couple of years back when a study at the New School found empirical evidence that reading literary fiction made a person more empathetic. I think a lot of readers, hearing that, said, "No shit."

While I was writing I often thought about how identities are made and formed and imposed on us, and the way the passport determines where you belong, who you are, and your political identity. It’s an identity with benefits and opportunities, but it’s also a geographical jail.