Most people in this country are looking for literature that is useful. They feel that just exploring their feelings is good enough - they should be reading about leveraged buy-outs or how to get thin. We live in a culture that is so absolutely, madly...
Like most guys, I had bought into the stereotype that all feminists were white, lesbian, unattractive male bashers who hated all men. But after reading the work of these black feminists, I realized that this was far from the truth. After digging into...
I believe in the magic of books. I believe that during certain periods in our lives we are drawn to particular books--whether it's strolling down the aisles of a bookshop with no idea whatsoever of what it is that we want to read and suddenly finding...
If with pleasure you are viewing Any work a man is doing; If you like him or you love him, tell him now. Don't withhold your approbation Till the preacher makes oration And he lies with snowy lilies o'er his brow. For no matter how you shout it, He w...
If you want to know what we are, look at the men reading books, searching in the dark pages of history for the lost word, the key to the mystery of the living peace. We are factory hands, field hands, mill hands, searching, building and molding struc...
I will say that my philosophy as a writer, since the very start of my career, has been one of “show, don’t tell.” Whatever might be happening in my books, I try to put the reader into the middle of it, rather than summarizing the action. That r...
This place is a mystery. A sanctuary. Every book, every volume you see, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it & the soul of those who read it & lived it & dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes do...
When my head is in the typewriter the last thing on my mind is some imaginary reader. I don’t have an audience; I have a set of standards. But when I think of my work out in the world, written and published, I like to imagine it’s being read by s...
I am a lifelong lover of form–content interplay, and this book is no exception. As with several of my previous books, I have had the chance to typeset it down to the finest level of detail, and my quest for visual elegance on each page has had coun...
Harry Potter isn’t real? Oh no! Wait, wait, what do you mean by real? Is this video blog real? Am I real if you can see me and hear me, but only through the internet? Are you real if I can read your comment but I don’t know who you are or what yo...
The principle of art is to pause, not bypass. The principles of true art is not to portray, but to evoke. This requires a moment of pause--a contract with yourself through the object you look at or the page you read. In that moment of pause, I think ...
Barbara: [after Jane did not hear Adam call her] She didn't see you, right? Adam: Uh-uh. Barbara: [reading the handbook] In the book: "Rule Number Two: the living usually won't see the dead". Adam: 'Won't' or 'can't'? Barbara: It just says 'won't'. G...
[in the waiting room of the afterlife] Barbara: Adam, is this what happens when you die? Receptionist: This is what happens when *you* die. [points at a gaunt man smoking] Receptionist: That is what happens when *he* dies. [points at a woman cut in h...
Vassili: On the train... coming here... we were in the same car. Tania: No... Vassili: I saw you. You were reading and you fell asleep. Oh, I didn't dare look at you, you were so beautiful. It was scary. Afterwards, I couldn't stop thinking about you...
Chisolm Newspaper Publisher: [Reading Doc Graham's obituary] ... and there were times when children could not afford eyeglasses, or milk, or clothing. Yet no child was ever denied of these essentials, because in the background, there was always Dr. G...
Jack Lucas: [drunk and talking to the Pinocchio doll] You ever read any Nietzsche? Nietzsche says there's two kinds of people in the world: people who are destined for greatness like Walt Disney... and Hitler. Then there's the rest of us, he called u...
[the team have just been asked to admit to any Communist connections, no matter how vague or distant, before they do the main broadcast against McCarthy - because he will us it as ammunition against them] Edward R. Murrow: Oh, if none of us had ever ...
Marcus Brody: My reputation preceeds me. Sallah: There is no museum in Iskenderun. German Guide: Papers, please. Sallah: [laughing] Papers? Of course [to Marcus] Sallah: Run. Marcus Brody: Yes. Sallah: Papers. Got it here. Just finished reading it my...
Joan Clarke: Do you know, this morning I was on a train that went through a city that wouldn't exist if it wasn't for you. I bought a ticket from a man who would likely be dead if it wasn't for you. I read up, on my work, a whole field of scientific ...
TARS: Sir, I'm having trouble completing the bootup. Romilly: I don't understand. TARS: There is a security lockdown. It requires a person to access function. It's all your's, sir. [Romilly accesses archives] Romilly: [confused] This data makes no se...
Dr. Ellie Sattler: [after entering the maintenance shed] Mr Arnold? Mr Arnold? John, I'm in. John Hammond: [over Ellie's radio] Great. Now, ahead of you, is a metal staircase. Go down it. Dr. Ellie Sattler: OK, I'm going down. John Hammond: After 20 ...
