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Books are acts of composition: you compose them. You make music: the music is called fiction.

All my books are about one major idea and two or three subsidiary ones. I have thought a lot about music when constructing books, and I like the way in music that themes come back.

My books are personal: I'm not saying they're the Bible of music.

As for what I listen to after writing, it could be anything - but I've noticed that if the current book contains music from one tradition, it is music from another tradition that most relaxes me.

Books are so cheap and easy to get that people don't bother stealing them, which is the essential rule of piracy that the music business learned much too late.

We'd never expect to understand a piece of music on one listen, but we tend to believe we've read a book after reading it just once.

Books are not like albums, where you can simply download and enjoy your favorite chapter and ignore the rest.

Most people - and particularly people whose lives have nothing to do with books at all - are intrigued by the idea that somebody wants to listen to them and get it right.

I have specific playlists for different books and characters. So, I need to have those with me. It helps me get into the mindset of the book.

I often get asked, 'Is the book dead?' It hasn't happened yet. It's different than music. Music was always meant to be pure sound - it started out as pure sound and now it's pure sound again. But books started out as things. Words on paper began as words on paper. The paperback book is the best technology to deliver that information to you.