Reading was my hobby, my sport and my activity of choice. It was the prime pleasure of my days, an unfailing escape from whatever realities were distressing me, and the only source of pride I knew, other vanities lying beyond my grasp. I couldn't do ...
When I was a child I used to read books by Gerald Durrell, who founded Jersey Zoo. He had a job collecting animals for zoos and for a long time that is what I wanted to do. Later when I was a teenager I had a fantastic English teacher called Mrs. Sta...
I receive emails from readers that both break my heart and give me a profound sense of connection. Several months ago, I received an email from a teacher who told me that 'Legend' was the first book one of her troubled young students had ever read to...
I've been reading Greek mythology since I was a kid. I also taught it when I was a sixth grade teacher, so I knew a lot of mythological monsters already. Sometimes I still use books and Web sites to research, though. Every time I research Greek mytho...
You could time a suburban story by your watch: it lasts as long as it takes a small furry animal that's lonely to find friends, or a small furry animal that's lost to find its parents; it lasts as long as a quick avowal of love; it lasts precisely as...
I love my lecture tours. I get up onstage. I have my stack of books and a glass of water and a microphone. No podium, no distance between me and the audience, and I just talk to people and get all excited and tell a lot of jokes, and sing some songs,...
I'm first and foremost a company man, surprising as that is. I love Warner Brothers. That's where I have a deal. That's where I've been for years. So I don't really interact too much with other studios and do things with other studios and I don't nec...
I can't read music. Instead, I'd do stuff inside the piano, do harmonics and all kinds of crazy things. They used to put me in these annual piano contests down at Long Beach City College, and two years in a row, I won first prize - out of like 5,000 ...
I took music theory for one year in high school and flunked all but one six-week period. That's because I couldn't read music, and the rest of the class was already eight or nine years into it. The teacher would sit down and hit a ten-fingered chord ...
It's not like since I make comics I only read comics and since I make movies I will only go out and watch movies. Any kind of artistic expression interests me; it goes from literature to music to sculpture, painting; whatever is extremely inspiring f...
[as everyone is madly trying to identify the problem from instrument readings] Jim Lovell: Houston, we are venting something out into space. I can see it outside window one right now. It's definitely a... a gas of some sort. [pause] Jim Lovell: It's ...
Lola Quincey: [Lola has just extracted the lead role in Briony's play - Arabella - from its obviously reluctant author] I suppose we should start by reading it. Briony Tallis, aged 13: [sharply] If you're going to be Arabella, then I'll be the direct...
Paula: [reading to her father] ?the Mighty Mets stormed their locker room shortly after nine o'clock on their night to remember. Released from bondage and ridicule after seven destitute seasons, they raised the roof of Shea Stadium - while their fans...
[John Bender is absently tearing up books] Andrew Clark: That's real intelligent. John Bender: You're right. It's wrong to destroy literature. It's such fun to read. And [examines title] John Bender: Moe-Lay really pumps my nads. Claire Standish: Mol...
Marty McFly: [Reading a letter he has just written] Dear Dr. Brown. On the night that I go back in time, you will be shot by terrorists. Please take whatever precautions are necessary to prevent this terrible disaster. Your friend, Marty. [Writes the...
Marty McFly: [reading the gravestone of Doc's future self] "Erected in eternal memory by his beloved Clara." Marty McFly: [he turns to face Doc, inadvertently standing on the grave] Who the hell is Clara? Young Doc: [shouts] Marty, please, don't stan...
Mitch Brenner: I'd like to see you. Maybe we could go swimming or something. Mother tells me you like to swim. Melanie Daniels: How does Mother know what I like to do? Mitch Brenner: I guess we read the same gossip columns.
All in a moment Hurlow forgot the beauty of the sounds and smelt fear. He smelt it as an animal smells it, the breath cold in his nostrils. He had read about Pan, a dead god who might safely be patronized while poring over a book in a London lodging,...
I do believe that characters in novels belong to their writers and their readers pretty equally. I've learned a lot of things about the characters I write from people who read about them. Readers expand them in ways I don't think of and take them to ...
I long to embrace, to include in my own short life, all that is accessible to man. I long to speak, to read, to wield a hammer in a great factory, to keep watch at sea, to plow. I want to be walking along the Nevsky Prospect, or in the open fields, o...
The class has become over the years fairly large, running to three hundred or more, but I always insist upon reading all the student folklore collections myself. Although this is a tall order, I look forward to it because I learn so much from it.
