Epic Novel Quotes

American Gods is about 200,000 words long, and I'm sure there are words that are simply in there 'cause I like them. I know I couldn't justify each and every one of them.

When I finished reading '100 Years of Solitude,' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, I got really sad. I thought, 'This will never happen for me, for the first time, ever again.' Then I opened 'Beauty Is a Wound.' It's a completely different story and writing style, but it has a similar place in my heart now.

Longest book was '2666' by Roberto Bolano, and it was an irregular reading experience. I read the first four parts during a cross-country plane trip, reading at slightly slower-than-usual speed but surprised at how accessible the book was compared with 'The Savage Detectives.'

My favorite books are actually very complicated - 'One Hundred Years of Solitude', 'Ulysses'.

I have to admit that I only read 'War and Peace' when I was 40. But I knew the basics before then.

War and Peace maddens me because I didn't write it myself, and worse, I couldn't.

Sure, 'Les Miserables' can be melodramatic. And seeing the musical instead of reading the novel will save you some time and spare you the long part where Hugo goes on and on about the Parisian sewer system. But I would hate for the novel to lose that.

The book that made me decide to go into Russian literature was 'Anna Karenina,' which I first read in high school. The thing that appealed to me and constituted its Russianness for me was that it was simultaneously incredibly funny and sad.

How about Proust's In Search of Lost Time?" Tamaru asked. "If you've never read it this would be a good opportunity to read the whole thing." "Have you read it?" "No, I haven't been in jail, or had to hide out for a long time. Someone once said unless you have those kinds of opportunities, you can't read the whole of Proust.

You may not be a fan of Twitter-fiction. That's okay. There are novels out there for you - big ones.

'War and Peace' goes down a lot smoother than a Dan Brown novel, let me tell you.

English writing tends to fall into two categories - the big, baggy epic novel or the fairly controlled, tidy novel. For a long time, I was a fan of the big, baggy novel, but there's definitely an advantage to having a little bit more control.

I love those books like 'Gone with the Wind,' the huge, sweeping family sagas.

Being in a Chinese coal mine for 30 years is like an epic novel. It's tragic.

I've read everything Thomas Wolfe ever wrote; my brother and I memorized whole chapters of 'You Can't Go Home Again' and 'Look Homeward, Angel.'

Whether or not you agree with Ayn Rand - and I have certain issues with some of her beliefs - the woman can tell a story. I mean, the novel as an art form is just in full florid bloom in 'Atlas Shrugged.' It's an unbelievable story. The characters are so compelling, and what she's saying is mind-expanding.

To this day, I still think Lonesome Dove is my best part.

Reading a novel, War and Peace for example, is no Catnap. Because a novel is so long, reading one is like being married forever to somebody nobody knows or cares about.

I worked on 'Lonesome Dove' three weeks all together. When I heard they were doing it, I wanted to be involved since I'd read the book.

I think people have the wrong idea of 'Moby Dick' as this somber, boring thing.

One of the stories that really impressed me was 'Anna Karenina.' As a novel, that made an impression on me, showing me what the novel can do.

Every time I sit down to reread 'War and Peace' - I've read it three times - I feel as though I've lived another life.

'Ulysses' is like a big box of tricks that you can dive into. Each time you read it, you find something new.

I still think reading something like 'Ulysses' takes a tremendous investment of time, but it repays all of it with so much interest.

'War and Peace' may be the most epic thing ever created by a human being.