“So, you see, it's a real chore for me to write a book review because it's like a contest. It's like I'm writing that book review for every bad book reviewer I've ever known and it's a way of saying [thrusts a middle finger into the air] this is how you ought to do it. I like to rub their noses in it.” WayWritingBookRealKnownAirMiddleOughtFingersNosesReviewsContestsThrustChoresReviewersBook ReviewMiddle Finger Author:John Irving
“It's magical thinking to imagine that the reason unspeakable things are being perpetrated by younger and younger people is that they've fallen under the influence of seductive, lascivious, prurient, and violent material in books, films, television. A great deal of this type of censorship has to do with absolving parents of responsibility - parents who just plop their kids in front of the television and leave them there hour upon hour.” PeopleThinkingBookReasonKidsFilmParentHoursDealsResponsibilityImagineInfluenceFrontsTelevisionMaterialsTypeViolentFallenCensorshipImagine ThatSeductiveUnspeakableMagical Thinking Author:John Irving
“With every book, you go back to school. You become a student. You become an investigative reporter. You spend a little time learning what it's like to live in someone else's shoes.” LittlesBookSchoolStudentsShoesReportersLittle Time Author:John Irving
“I write very quickly; I rewrite very slowly. It takes me nearly as long to rewrite a book as it does to get the first draft.” WritingFirstsLongDoeBookTake Me Author:John Irving
“Along the (writing) way accidents happen, detours get taken... But these are not "divine" accidents; I don't believe in those. I believe you have constructive accidents en route through a novel only because you have mapped a clear way. If you have confidence that you have a clear direction to take, you always have confidence to explore other ways; if they prove to be mere digressions, you'll recognize that and make the necessary revisions. The more you know about a book, the freer you can be to fool around. The less you know, the tighter you get.” IfsKnowsWayWritingBelieveBookHappensI BelieveNovelTakenClearDivineFoolProveMereDon't BelieveAccidentsRoutesConstructiveHave ConfidenceRevisionDetoursAccidents HappenClear Direction Author:John Irving
“I have no respect for the right-to-life position, though I have every respect for an individual who says, "I could never have that procedure, I could never see a film or read a book about that procedure." It doesn't bother me if people feel that way.” PeopleIfsWayFeelsBookFilmIndividualPositionBotherProceduresNo RespectRight To Life Author:John Irving
“The book works better if I know everything I can about the ending. Not just what happens, but how it happens and what the language is; not just the last sentence, but enough of the sentences surrounding that last sentence to know what the tone of voice is. I imagined it as something almost musical. Then you are writing toward something; you know the sound of your voice at the end of the story. That's how you want to sound in those final sentences: the degree that it is uplifting or not, the degree that it is melancholic or not.” IfsKnowsWantWritingI CanBookEndsEnoughStoriesHappensLastsLanguageSoundVoiceDegreesFinalsMusicalSentencesUpliftingTone Author:John Irving
“For most of my life, when I've finished the book I'm writing, there've always been as many as two or three other novels waiting to be written next. And the decision driving which one of them it should be was never based on how long it had waited or how many accumulated pages of notes I had.” ShouldWritingLongTwoBookThreeNextWaitingDecisionNovelWrittenPagesNotesFinishedDriving Author:John Irving
“There was no manifestation of contemporary culture that did not indicate to my grandmother how steadfast was the nation's decline, how merciless our mental and moral deterioration, how swiftly all-embracing our final decadence. I never saw her read a book again; but she referred to books often - as if they were shrines and cathedrals of learning that television had plundered and then abandoned.” IfsBookCultureNationsMoralSawsTelevisionFinalsContemporaryManifestationGrandmotherAbandonedDeclineMy GrandmotherCathedralsDecadenceSteadfastShrinesDeterioration Book:A Prayer For Owen Meany Source: A Prayer For Owen Meany
“In a school community, someone who reads a book for some secretive purpose, other than discussing it, is strange. What was she reading for?” BookSchoolPurposeReadingCommunityStrangeDiscussingSecretive Author:John Irving
“Grown-ups shouldn’t finish books they’re not enjoying. When you’re no longer a child, and you no longer live at home, you don’t have to finish everything on your plate. One reward of leaving school is that you don’t have to finish books you don’t like.” ChildrenBookHomeSchoolEnjoyRewardsLeavingPlatesLeaving School Author:John Irving
“And when you love a book, commit one glorious sentence of it-perhaps your favorite sentence-to memory. That way you won't forget the language of the story that moved you to tears.” WayBookStoriesLanguageMemoriesForgetTearsMovedSentencesCommitGloriousYour Favorite Book:In One Person: A Novel Source: In One Person: A Novel
“You don't want to dwell on your enemies, you know. I basically feel so superior to my critics for the simple reason that they haven't done what I do. Most book reviewers haven't written 11 novels. Many of them haven't written one.” KnowsWantFeelsBookReasonDoneHouseSimpleEnemyNovelWrittenHavensCriticsSuperiorsReviewersBook Review Author:John Irving
