Chang-Rae Lee Quotes

When I was younger, I suppose I was interested in checking out as much about writing as I could: bad, weird, irritating, even things not-to-my-taste. Now I am less open. I will decide after a few pages if I want to stay in the world of the book, and if I don't, I put it down. I have less time left.

I read pretty eclectically - fiction, non-fiction, and poetry - and I've been inspired and influenced by a number of writers.

I grew up in a bookish family, so I read very widely. I was omnivorous, really.

I devour books. But for the longest time, I refused to pay attention to genre or labels.

I was ahead of my classmates in some ways. While they were enjoying Mills & Boons, I was reading Ayn Rand.

Excessively narrow reading is unhelpful, certainly. Reading only Serious Literature is no better than reading only trash in this respect.

I'm a voracious reader, and I like to explore all sorts of writing without prejudice and without paying any attention to labels, conventions or silly critical fads.

I read very widely, both non-fiction and fiction, so I don't think there's a single writer who influences me.

I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read.

My father was an engineer - he wasn't literary, not a writer or a journalist, but he was one of the world's great readers.

Do not suppose, however, that I intend to urge a diet of classics on anybody. I have seen such diets at work. I have known people who have actually read all, or almost all, the guaranteed Hundred Best Books. God save us from reading nothing but the best.

As an adult, I'll give a writer 50 pages. If the book doesn't interest me in 50 pages, I'll say the heck with it - there are just too many other things to read. A child won't give you 50 pages.

I read and enjoy just about anything I can get my hands on.

When someone says they've read your book 15 times, you think, 'Well, you should read something else.'

I read all kinds of novels, as long as they're good.

As a reader, I read quite widely.

I read almost everything that comes my way.

I don't really believe that people read just the stuff they agree with.

You can tell a man's taste in literature by his judgment in knowing what not to read.

I wasn't all that attracted to writing originally. I read a great deal. My parents read a great deal. I do know that as my interest in tennis waned, my interest in academics increased. I mean, I started doing my homework in high school and discovering that it was somewhat fun. And then in college I barely even played on the team because just classes were much more interesting.

In the past few years I've assigned books to be read before a student attends one of my weeklong seminars. I have been astonished by how few people -- people who supposedly want to write -- read books, and if they read them, how little they examine them.

Who knows if Shakespeare might not have thought less if he had read more?

Children read books, not reviews. They don't give a hoot about critics.

I guess the important thing for young writers is to read.

The high-school English teacher will be fulfilling his responsibility if he furnishes the student a guided opportunity, through the best writing of the past, to come, in time, to an understanding of the best writing of the present. He will teach literature, not social studies or little lessons in democracy or the customs of many lands. And if the student finds that this is not to his taste? Well, that is regrettable. Most regrettable. His taste should not be consulted; it is being formed.