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My books are elegiac in the sense that they're odes to a nation that even I sometimes think may not exist anymore except in my memory and my imagination.

'Othello' was my first Shakespearean discovery. I was obsessed with drama at school, and I studied the play for my English GCSE. Desdemona is the part that everyone wants, but Iago's wife Emilia is the one I've always been drawn to.

I've read the whole 'Divergent' series, the 'Pretty' series. I just read it because I find this stuff interesting to read.

When my younger son was 13 years old, he asked me to read 'Swallows and Amazons' to him while he made models. He liked it so much that I ended up reading all thirteen of Ransome's books, including the ones that I missed out on. This led my son to 'Treasure Island,' 'Robinson Crusoe' and 'Coral Island.'

'Don Quijote' by Cervantes. I read the original Spanish version when I was in high school. Such a classic!

Many of the books I read, I had to read them in French, English, or Italian, because they hadn't been translated into Spanish.

I pretty much always wanted to write a series, because I love reading them.

Increasingly, I find myself drawn to classic forms - to Euripides, Shakespeare and grand opera.

The way I look at it, they're all part of my musical diary, and I can listen to any one of them and it will bring up memories of what was going on at that time.

I love the song 'El Rey.' And for years, I never knew what the song was totally about. It was something new for me. I'd never sung a song in Spanish before. Then I got the translation and saw what a really cool song it was.