When I Finish A Book,

For Many Years, It Seemed As If Nothing Changed In Norway. You Could Leave The Country For Three Months, Travel The World, Through Coups D'etat, Assassinations, Famines, Massacres And Tsunamis, And Come Home To Find That The Only New Thing In The Newspapers Was The Crossword Puzzle.

The Only Pressure I Feel Is To Write Good Books. And To Not Replicate The Previous Book. Whether You Have A Thousand Readers Or A Million Readers It Doesn't Change The Pressure. I Never Feel Tempted To Give The Reader What I Think The Reader Wants.

I Tell Myself I Write Because I Want To Say Something True And Original About The Nature Of Evil. That Is Very Ambitious - To Say Something About The Human Condition That Hasn't Been Written Before. Probably I Will Never Succeed But That Is What I Strive To Do.

Christian Ethics Demand That You Should Not Take Revenge. The Paradox Is, Naturally, That Christians Worship A God Who Is The Greatest Avenger Of Them All. Defy Him And You Burn In Eternal Hell, An Act Of Revenge Which Is Completely Out Of Proportion To The Crime

When You're An Established Name, You Know That A Children's Book Will Have A Pretty Good Chance Of Getting Picked Up. Like Madonna. It's Not That I Had This Great Idea. Actually, In My Case, It Was A Great Idea.