Jonathan Franzen

It's very liberating for me to realize that I don't have to step up to the plate with a plot that involves the U.N. Security Council.

The Mekons were kind of like the background music of my life.

I used to think it was hard to write, and I still find the process more or less unpleasant, but if I know what I'm doing it rattles along, then the rewrite whips it into shape rather quickly.

I hate the bad rap that people give my parents. Because they are just parents, really, at the end of the day trying to stand up for their daughter and themselves.

After ten years of word processing, I can't even do hand writing anymore.

There was plenty of dysfunction in my family and I went to Catholic School with these psychotic nuns. I would always try to be funny to lighten the mood.