Jim Crace

I want to live in a city where the future is being mapped out.

I'm not that well-versed in literary theory - I don't know what it is.

I have, I must admit, despised the English countryside for much of my life - despised it and avoided it for its want of danger and adventure.

It was illegal for black people and white people to play checkers together in Birmingham. And there were even black and white Bibles to swear to tell the truth on in many parts of the South.

If every time you engage in a sex act, you go into a confession box, you will never accept your own sexuality.

What people don't understand about Sarah Palin is that she is a rancher's wife. From Alberta down to Texas I've known women like that: good common sense, bright and vilified by city people.