Hallgrimur Helgason Quotes

What I enjoy about reviewing and writing for newspapers and periodicals is simply the chance to talk about all kinds of books and lots of them.

I probably read 100 times more than I write, but that way when I move my characters through it, I know.

Authors are influenced by everything they've ever read. If you've read widely enough, it helps you create your own mix.

The author may not interpret. But he must tell why and how he wrote his book.

I don't think that books are wondrous, magical things that come from nowhere. It's important that a book has clues about where and how it was written.

I have friends who are writers, but we don't tend to talk about literature very much. It's just not part of my process; I tend to be pretty secretive about what I'm working on.

I wouldn't like to be a character in one of my books!

I mean, when you're tired of book reviews, you're tired of life.

I just write the books that I think I would want to read.

Whatever I'm reading at the moment seems to influence whatever I'm writing.

The fun one can have writing books about books is limitless, to be honest.

I always have a book that I use that somehow inspires my novels.

I'm not surprised that my books appeal to adults.

Like most writers, I read deeply into the genre in which I write.

There isn't any distinction between a reader and a writer - reading is so much a part of it.

I can always tell when I'm about to start writing. I go through cycles in reading. When I'm beginning to start to write something, I start reading what I think of as good literature. I read things with wonderful language.

I don't think I've ever read an old book through from start to finish. Not after more than six months after writing it, that is.

In France, for instance, one magazine writer was convinced that On The Road had been a huge influence on Lost Souls and was crushed to learn that I hadn't read the one until after I'd written the other.

When I'm working on a novel of my own, I try to read mostly nonfiction, although sometimes I break down and peek at something else.

The best way to become a successful writer is to read good writing, remember it, and then forget where you remember it from.

I'm not into high literature, but I think all my books are literate.

I don't think of myself as a critic at all. I'm a reviewer and essayist. I mainly hope to share with others my pleasure in the books and authors I write about, though sometimes I do need to cavil and point out shortcomings.

All writers start out mimicking other writers. I've never relinquished that. I have a good ear for speech and writing patterns.

I can tell you that when Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, our writer, when she would work on some of these grander novels like, say, a book like 'The Golden Bowl', that would take her months and I wouldn't know what she was doing, really.

I rarely write by myself.