Gary Shteyngart Quotes

I read Carver. Julio Cortazar. Amis's essays. Baldwin. Lorrie Moore. Capote. Saramago. Larkin. Wodehouse. Anything, anything at all, that doesn't sound like me.

For fiction, I'm not particularly nationalistic. I'm not like the Hugo Chavez of Latin American letters, you know? I want people to read good work.

For years, I had heard about the lack of interest in literature in the U.S. and I had complained about it. I failed to understand how people could fail to be moved by art.

Well, well, Henry James is pretty good, though he is of the nineteenth century, and that glaringly.

I primarily read fiction, and I read a good many wonderful books while writing 'The Visibles.'

I've always been fascinated by books. When I was young, my grandfather used to hand out a book - which would be anything from a biography to a classic - to me every week and ask me to write a piece on what I thought about it. On the other hand, my mother used to love reading thrillers and bestsellers.

I'm always interested in contemporary fiction.

My main source of reading is scripts, which doesn't leave a whole lot of room for books.

I like a lot of Margaret Atwood, I like much of Alice Munro. Again, if you were to ask me about male writers, there's often a novel I admire, but not all of their works.

I don't think if you're serious about literature your library is filled with award-winning books.

My two goals are to read everything Edith Wharton has ever written and to have an art collection.

Writing in India will not dramatically change till we learn to value books.

The fact that we don't read more books in America can be traced squarely to the fact that we have newspapers that are about a hundred times as big as the newspapers anywhere else.

He told himself that he would have to start reading thicker books: they lasted longer, and made more comfortable pillows.

A lot of people in government don't really read books at all.

I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.

As an undergraduate I majored in British and American literature at Rice University.

I don't think the problem is that people don't read enough mystery books, but that people don't read.

One half who graduate from college never read another book.

I'm constantly running across people who have never heard of books I think they should read.

I admire American literature, both contemporary and classic - 'Moby-Dick' is just about the best book in the world - and I admire British literature for its insistence on dealing with social class. It may have been an influence.

There are so many good authors; there's no shortage of them.

I attempt to write a good novel. Whether it is literature or not is something that will be decided by the ages, not by me and not by a pack of critics around the globe.

I've never managed to get very far with Henry James.

I love Toni Morrison and Jeanette Winterson. 'The Passion' is my favourite book.