In our interview, Jonathan Lethem -- author of compelling novels including Motherless Brooklyn and You Don't Love Me Yet -- talks about his writing process. "I am very conscious of the conjured or synthetic elements of storytelling," he explains. "I don't have the illusion -- and I suppose I don't offer my readers the illusion -- that everything I write comes from some kind of mysterious personal place. I'm writing in 'conversation' with other books, with films, with music I like. For me, a book is a part of a cultural conversation."