“Well, people have been wondering what's going to happen to the novel for two hundred years; its death has been announced many times. You know, I think the novel keeps redefining the world we live in. What you should look for in a novel is a window nobody else is looking out of, that nobody else can look through. What you look for is a voice. You pick up a novel by someone such as Faulkner or Hemingway and you just read three pages and you know who wrote it. And that's what one should demand of a novelist.” PeopleThinkingKnowsWorldShouldYearsWellsLooksHas BeensTwoHappensThreeVoiceWonderNovelDemandPagesPicksHundredWindowNovelistsRedefining Author:Mordecai Richler
“Steve Coogan picks up enough to lecture an interviewer: This is a postmodern novel before there was any modernism to be post about. Later it's claimed that Tristram Shandy was No. 8 on the Observer's list of the greatest novels, which cheers everyone until they discover the list was chronological.” BookEnoughLanguageNovelPicksListsPostsCheerObserversLecturesModernismPostmodernInterviewers Book:Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2007 Source: Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2007
“For my part, the good novel of character is the novel I can always pick up; but the good novel of incident is the novel I can never lay down.” I CanCharacterReadingNovelPicksLaysIncidents Book:Essays in Miniature Source: Essays in Miniature
“I'm no lyrical stylist, you wouldn't pick me for a perfect sentence, and I certainly wouldn't describe my novels as intellectual.” PerfectNovelIntellectualPicksSentencesLyricalStylistPick Me Author:Joanna Trollope
“I could never be a part of an adaptation of a film where there's pressure to not disappoint the immense fan base. In those cases, they often wind up with filmed books on tape, quite uncinematic. Having said that, I'd say all the adaptations I've done are quite faithful to the original... You have to pick and choose which storylines and plot threads, because you don't have the time to kill in the film as they have in novels. All those pages with detours and plots and different storylines. But films add a lot, and you gotta keep it moving.” SaidBookDifferentDoneFilmMovingCasesNovelFansWindPagesPicksPressureOriginalsAddFaithfulPlotTapeImmenseThreadAdaptationDisappointDetoursStorylineTime To KillKeep It Moving Author:Alexander Payne
“So, in some ways, the political songs tend to be a bit more like reportage, whereas the love songs tend to be like novels, you can pick them up off the shelf and go into them any time.” WayPoliticalSongBitsNovelPicksShelves Author:Billy Bragg
“I certainly incorporate facts into my fiction. I take the basic facts from the life of my subject and I pick and choose what to use to construct a really interesting novel. I don't let facts get in the way of my imagination and my exploration of the subject's emotions and relationships.” WayFactsUseImaginationInterestingEmotionFictionNovelSubjectsPicksExplorationConstructsMy ImaginationReally Interesting Author:Melanie Benjamin
“What critics might call eclectic, and Eastern folks quirky, we Southerners call cussedness-and it's the cornerstone of the American genius. As in: 'There's a right way, a wrong way, and my way.' You want to see how that looks on the page, pick up any of Craig McDonald's novels. He's built him a nice little shack out there way off all the reg'lar roads, and he's brewing some fine, heady stuff. Leave your money under the rock and come back in an hour.” WayWantLooksLittlesMightStuffHoursNovelNiceRocksFineGeniusPagesPicksBuiltCriticsFolksMy WayRight WayEasternWrong WayMcdonaldsQuirkyCornerstonesEclecticSouthernerBrewingShack Author:James Sallis
“You could say that this book is ripped from the headlines, but that wouldn't be fair. Bret Anthony Johnston's riveting novel picks up where the tabloids leave off, and takes us places even the best journalism can't go. Remember Me Like This is a wise, moving, and troubling novel about family and identity, and a clear-eyed inventory of loss and redemption.” BookRememberMovingLossNovelClearWiseIdentityPicksFairsRedemptionJournalismHeadlinesRippedTabloidsRemember MeAbout FamilyInventory Author:Tom Perrotta
“I do not begin my novel at the beginning, I do not reach chapter three before I reach chapter four, I do not go dutifully from one page to the next, in consecutive order; no, I pick out a bit here and a bit there, till I have filled all the gaps on paper. This is why I like writing my stories and novels on index cards, numbering them later when the whole set is complete. Every card is rewritten many times.” WritingWholeStoriesOrderThreeNextBitsNovelFourPaperPagesPicksFilledCardsGapsChaptersConsecutive Author:Vladimir Nabokov
“I don't base my books on my life (thank goodness) and I don't pick the topic first. In fact, the topic picks me - via a question I can't answer as a mom, a wife, a woman, an American. I find myself wondering "What if..." and it blossoms into a whole novel.” IfsFirstsI CanBookWholeFactsAnswersWonderNovelWifeMomGoodnessPicksWhat IfTopicsIfs AndPick MeWondering What If Author:Jodi Picoult
“When you pick up a novel from the bed side table, you put down your own life at the same time and you become another person for the duration.” PersonsSidesNovelBedPicksTablesDuration Author:Barbara Kingsolver
“Something we do know is that review coverage does go to male authors more than women authors. That's a fact. I think it's one of those examples of unconscious bias: If you hire a lot of male journalists, they're more likely to pick up the latest Ian McEwan novel than the latest A.S. Byatt novel.” IfsThinkingKnowsDoeFactsNovelExamplePicksMalesJournalistUnconsciousReviewsBiasCoverage Author:Emma Donoghue
“Occasionally, I just need to escape from my work or be reminded of the comparative bliss of my own life, so I pick up a novel.” NeedsMy OwnNovelPicksBlissMy Own Life Author:David Macaulay
“Like when you pick up a book and you don't realize what type of text it is - it could be an essay, a novel, a biography - and at one point you realize you don't know where, as a reader, you want to be. Where are you going with this text? What is the goal? How are you supposed to interpret what you're reading? And people's responses vary - some dislike it, and are put off by the confusion, the lack of comprehension.” PeopleKnowsWantBookReadingGoalRealizingNovelTypeReaderPicksResponseConfusionDislikeBiographiesEssaysVaryComprehension Author:Sergio Chejfec
“Radio is the medium that most closely approximates the experience of reading. As a novelist, I find it very exciting to be able to reach people who might not ever pick up one of my books, either because they can't afford it (as is often the case in Latin America), or because they just don't have the habit of reading novels.” PeopleBookMightAbleAmericaReadingCasesNovelHabitPicksExcitingRadioMediumsNovelistsLatinLatin AmericaReading Novels Author:Daniel Alarcon