The tide was low and we walked out into the silty soil of the Thames—cool, I thought.

Paul Theroux is a writer/multitasker. When he travels, he reads (or re-reads) a novel, writes a short story or his own novel, and takes notes on the book-to-be that sent him traveling in the first place. He lived in London at the time, and I got him between travels for this session, so his restless brain filled the session with literary gossip, sports chatter and games: His favorite game was doing first or last lines from novels and guessing the source. Yea, I had about six—max; his supply was endless.