“First rule of writing: When still a child, make sure you read a lot of books. Spend more time doing this than anything else.” WritingFirstsChildrenStillsBookMore Time Author:Zadie Smith
“For example, you have these grotesque, hilarious, profane ghosts in the book [Lincoln in the Bardo]. Even the concept of talking ghosts is, from an aesthetic point of view, grotesque. But you seem compelled by that risk in order to get to the other end of the equation.” BookEndsSeemsOrderViewsTalkingRiskExampleConceptsPoint Of ViewGhostAestheticCompelledEquationsGrotesqueProfane Author:Zadie Smith
“It has historically been a comfort for the bourgeois and that you can read the most extreme books and not change. You can read A Christmas Carol and not change in any way.” WayBookComfortExtremesBourgeoisCarolsChristmas Carol Author:Zadie Smith
“As far as I'm concerned, if you want to find out about the last day of WWII or the roots of the Indian Mutiny, get thee to a books catalogue.” IfsWantBookLastsConcernedRootsTheeIndianWwiiLast DayCataloguesMutiny Author:Zadie Smith
“Cambridge was a joy. Tediously. People reading books in a posh place. It was my fantasy. I loved it. I miss it still.” PeopleStillsBookJoyReadingFantasyMissingReading BooksCambridgePosh Author:Zadie Smith
“I don't keep any copies of my books in the house - they go to my mum's flat. I don't like them around.” BookHouseFlatsCopiesMum Author:Zadie Smith
“I like books that don't give you an easy ride. I like the feeling of discomfort. The sense of being implicated.” GivingBookFeelingsEasyDiscomfort Author:Zadie Smith
“I like books that expose me to people unlike me and books that do battle against caricature or simplification. That, to me, is the heroic in fiction.” PeopleBookFictionBattleHeroicCaricaturesSimplification Author:Zadie Smith
“If you're going to write a good book, you have to make mistakes and you have to not be so cautious all the time.” IfsWritingBookMistakeMaking MistakesGood BookCautious Author:Zadie Smith
“All my books are made up of other books. They're all deeply structured on other fiction, because I was a student in fiction and I didn't have much actual living to draw on. I suspect a lot of other people's novels are like that, too, though they might be slower to talk about it.” PeopleMadeBookMightFictionNovelStudentsDrawsSuspects Author:Zadie Smith
“It's difficult to tell the truth about how a book begins. The truth, as far as it can be presented to other people, is either wholly banal or too intimate.” PeopleBookDifficultIntimateTelling The Truth Author:Zadie Smith
“I have an ambition to write a great book, but that's really a competition with myself. I've noticed that a lot of young writers, people in all media, want to be famous but they don't really want to do anything. I can't think of anything less worth striving for than fame.” PeopleThinkingWantWritingI CanBookYoungMediaFameAmbitionCompetitionStriveGreat BookYoung Writers Author:Zadie Smith
