"The Shining. I’m a huge horror fan, classic horror specifically, and there’s just something about them. Carrie, The Shining, Rosemary’s Baby. They’re horrifying, and they’re definitely frightening, but they’re also elegant, and they also show patience. And they’re also discreet in certain ways. When the horror comes, they’ve set it up so that there’s more of a payoff, because what’s come before has been executed in such a way that it doesn’t feel like… You know, you watch a horror movie that’s produced today, and they’re trying to scare you or freak you out, or they’ve got cats jumping out of the cupboards in the first five minutes. There’s no gradual build-up; it’s as though they don’t trust that the audience is going to hang in there and wait for the impact coming sixty or ninety minutes into the movie. They want to give it to you in the first ten minutes, which I think is kind of shoddy storytelling, and disrespectful to the audience."

"This is a deeply soulful novel that comprehends love and cruelty, and separates the big people from the small of heart, without ever losing sympathy for those unfortunates who don’t know how to live properly. Hurston is a lyrical writer, and lyricism is not usually my cup of tea, but there are talents that go beyond genre and taste. Her greatest claim over me is that she never was ashamed of the novel as a form—she believed in the transformative power of storytelling, and she took risks with sentiment that few contemporary writers are prepared to make. This book is a part of my character now—that’s how many times I’ve read it. I don’t look to fiction to find heroes, but I have to admit that Janie has meant more to me than any other character. She’s singing my song, somehow. And you realize the breadth of Hurston’s talent when you find out how many other people feel exactly the same way."

"The Shining. I’m a huge horror fan, classic horror specifically, and there’s just something about them. Carrie, The Shining, Rosemary’s Baby. They’re horrifying, and they’re definitely frightening, but they’re also elegant, and they also show patience. And they’re also discreet in certain ways. When the horror comes, they’ve set it up so that there’s more of a payoff, because what’s come before has been executed in such a way that it doesn’t feel like… You know, you watch a horror movie that’s produced today, and they’re trying to scare you or freak you out, or they’ve got cats jumping out of the cupboards in the first five minutes. There’s no gradual build-up; it’s as though they don’t trust that the audience is going to hang in there and wait for the impact coming sixty or ninety minutes into the movie. They want to give it to you in the first ten minutes, which I think is kind of shoddy storytelling, and disrespectful to the audience."