Occasionally I find a travel book that is both illuminating and entertaining where vivid writing and research replace self-indulgence and sloppy prose.

Bob summed it up best when he was on his knees at the end of the night saying 'Don't trust in Guided By Voices.' You were there was the show awful or something? I know it was sloppy but they're not really that tight anyway but was it embarrassing was it sad?

I was never sloppy with other people's money. Only my own. Because I figure well you can be.

My greatest fear is feeling like a professional novelist. Somebody who creates characters who sits down and has pieces of paper taped to the wall - what's going to happen in this scene or this act. What I like is for it to be a much more scary sloppy reflection of who I am.

I think feminism's a bit misinterpreted. It was about casting off all gender roles. There's nothing wrong with a man holding a door open for a girl. But we sort of threw away all the rules so everybody's confused. And dating becomes a sloppy uncomfortable unpleasant thing.

Washington's answer to a self-inflicted financial crisis reminded Americans why they so deeply distrust the political class. The 'fiscal cliff' process was secretive and sloppy and the nation's so-called leadership lacked the political courage to address our root problems: joblessness and debt.