Literary Discussions Quotes

In general I do not draw well with literary men -- not that I dislike them but I never know what to say to them after I have praised their last publication.

You don’t ask a writer what typewriter he uses.

I'd like to think...that people in pubs would talk about my poems

But it's never just been the journals that have made the difference, I don't think. It's also the way the students are with one another . . . the way they talk about books and authors and themselves. Not just their problems, but their passions too. The way they form a little society and discuss whatever matters to them. Books light the fire-whether it's a book that's already written, or an empty journal that needs to be filled in.

The latest literary discussions reflect a struggle between two artistic methods - romanticism and realism, with the latter clearly ascendant for the time being.

For most people, what is so painful about reading is that you read something and you don't have anybody to share it with. In part what the book club opens up is that people can read a book and then have someone else to talk about it with. Then they see that a book can lead to the pleasure of conversation, that the solitary act of reading can actually be a part of the path to communion and community.

As opposed to being on the Internet, there's something really nice about reading a book or talking to authors.

... But he recommended the books which charmed her leisure hours, he encouraged her taste, and corrected her judgment; he made reading useful by talking to her of what she read, and heightened its attraction by judicious praise.

Having a family that loves books and loves to read has always created a common ground for communication.

I could get a better education interviewing John Steinbeck than talking to an English professor about novels.

There's a certain kind of conversation you have from time to time at parties in New York about a new book. The word "banal" sometimes rears its by-now banal head; you say "underedited," I say "derivative." The conversation goes around and around various literary criticisms, and by the time it moves on one thing is clear: No one read the book; we just read the reviews.

I never talked to anyone about my reading; the need to share came afterwords.

Isn't that interesting. All the book clubs. I've never belonged to one.

My mother was a part of a reading group, but they would never come near science fiction because they think it's not for them.

I was the type of person who was the question-asker. And not just genuine questions, I would ask a question so the author would know how much I knew about them. Once I went to a Tobias Wolff reading. I knew he was teaching at Syracuse at that time. And so, I remember asking him how he liked Syracuse. People do that to me now and it's okay. There is rarely a time when I just have had enough.

People who are strangers to liquor are incapable of talking about literature.

Book clubs are the best thing that has happened to the world of publishing.

Choose an author as you choose a friend.

My niece is - her name is Sasha, is currently learning Russian at Melbourne University and I look forward to the day when I can talk to her about Pushkin.

I don't necessarily want to talk about a book that I read. Even when I love it.

Like most of my friends in school, I was a member of multiple circulating libraries; and all of us, to begin with, borrowed and read the same things.

Before I had published anything, I still hung out with people who liked to write. None of us had published, so there was no talk about the business, and there was probably a lot more angsty talk back then. But these days maybe there are some more laments about the culture, but I would say no.

I was inspired by, when I was in college, seeing some incredible speakers come to my school: Michael Eric Dyson, Spike Lee, Nikki Giovanni, and other poets and writers. I always loved that experience: going and sitting in an auditorium and listening to their opinions.

What's the point of having a book club if you don't get to eat brownies and drink wine?

People have no idea what a hard job it is for two writers to be friends. Sooner or later you have to talk about each other's work.