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I loved to read and to write, but then something happened. As I made my way through school, I kept getting handed books to read that didn't excite me and didn't even remotely connect to the realities of my life.

I guess my writing has changed as my life has.

The only thing about my life that's really changed is the fact that a lot of people know me now. I'm still the same person.

You can't imagine how gratifying it is to have a reader come up to you and say, 'You changed my life.'

English fiction was something I loved growing up, and it changed my life - it changed the trajectory of my life.

'Tulip Fever' did change my life. It did that thing that sometimes happens when a book takes off - it opened doors on to whole other worlds.

Books stay with me and have shaped me and made huge impacts on my life.

I'm not sure there's a difference between books that affected the way I see the world and books that influenced me as a writer.