“Also, I've spent an entire week without reading any books or talking about them too loudly. I'm learning to work my apparat's screen, the colourful pulsating mosaic of it, the fact that it knows every last stinking detail about the world, whereas my books only know the minds of their authors.” KnowsWorldMindBookFactsLastsReadingTalkingWeekDetailsScreensMosaicsColourful Author:Gary Shteyngart
“I read real books. On paper. You know, those printed books? I feel like this is the last thing I do to support my industry. I think they smell great, too.” ThinkingKnowsFeelsBookRealLastsSupportIndustryPaperSmellPrintedReal BooksPrinted Books Author:Gary Shteyngart
“A lot of the ways of advertising a book - the cover, whether somebody sees it on a subway or sees it in a bookstore - those things are going to rapidly diminish as we move to an electronic model.” WayBookMovingModelsAdvertisingDiminishBookstoresSubway Author:Gary Shteyngart
“You want to read a book? That requires introspection. It requires time away from people and time away from the constant need to communicate and to connect.” PeopleWantNeedsBookConstantCommunicateIntrospectionTime Away Author:Gary Shteyngart
“My first book really did change my life. It allowed me to fully express myself. There was a sense that I was worth something as an artist.” FirstsBookArtistChanging My Life Author:Gary Shteyngart
“All of my books have an element of a man who is in love with somebody and needs them desperately, not just for procreation but for being able to fully unbosom himself. He only feels comfortable discussing things with women. Which is funny, because 80 percent of readers are women!” MenNeedsFeelsBookAbleReaderElementsComfortablePercentDiscussingProcreation Author:Gary Shteyngart
“After you publish a book, you become a writer and you're supposed to take it very seriously. You're supposed to show up at your desk - although frankly, I don't have a desk, I write in bed - you're supposed to show up at your bed and produce work. I think it's a little bit like work. I like to have fun with it, do things like make silly book trailers. I don't want to take this too seriously.” ThinkingWritingBookFunSillyHaving FunPublish Author:Gary Shteyngart
“The greatest books in Russian literature are satires. Gogol's Dead Souls, for example, is a very over-the-top satire about life in Russia. I think it's the thing we do best.” ThinkingBookSoulLiteratureSatireRussian Literature Author:Gary Shteyngart
“One should learn from a book. Books have a lot to teach us. They have a lot of empathy to impart to us, but they should also be fun. This stuff is fun! You shouldn't pick up a book and say, "Oh my god, I'm gonna better myself by reading this." You may better yourself by reading this, but who cares? Just have fun.” BookCareReadingFunTeachEmpathyHaving Fun Author:Gary Shteyngart
“... I'm the fortieth-ugliest man in this bar. But so what! So what! What if someday she lets me kiss each one of her freckles again? She has like a million. But every one of them means something to me. Isn't this how people used to fall in love? I know we're living in Rubenstein's America, like you keep saying. But doesn't that just make us even more responsible for each other's fates? I mean, what if Eunice and I just said no to all this. To this bar. To this FACing. The two of us. What if we just went home and read books to each other?” PeopleIfsKnowsMenMeanSaidTwoBookHomeAmericaUsedFallMillionsFateLike YouKissingLet MeResponsibleFalling In LoveBarsSomedayWhat IfTwo Of UsFreckles Author:Gary Shteyngart
“I felt the weakness of these books, their immateriality, how they had failed to change the world, and I didn't want to sully myself with their weakness anymore.” WorldWantBookFeltWeaknessChanging The World Book:Super Sad True Love Story Source: Super Sad True Love Story
“Then I celebrated my Wall of Books. I counted the volumes on my twenty-foot-long modernist bookshelf to make sure none had been misplaced or used as kindling by my subtenant. “You’re my sacred ones,” I told the books. “No one but me still cares about you. But I’m going to keep you with me forever. And one day I’ll make you important again.” I thought about that terrible calumny of the new generation: that books smell.” LongStillsImportantBookCareUsedForeverGenerationsFeetWallTerribleOne DayTwentiesSacredSmellVolumeNew GenerationBookshelvesMisplacedCalumnyKindling Book:Super Sad True Love Story Source: Super Sad True Love Story
“I love librarians more than any other people in the world. When I was an immigrant kid, they’ve made me feel like a human being and they gave me books that taught me English.” PeopleWorldFeelsHumansMadeBookKidsHuman BeingsTaughtImmigrantsLibrarian Author:Gary Shteyngart
