Southern Gothic Quotes

One novel that I think is an overriding influence in my life is 'All the King's Men,' the most beautiful book written in the U.S.

One more recent novelist to come along is Cormac McCarthy. Him, I like.

I became a novelist because of 'Gone With the Wind,' or more precisely, my mother raised me up to be a 'Southern' novelist, with a strong emphasis on the word 'Southern' because 'Gone With the Wind' set my mother's imagination ablaze when she was a young girl growing up in Atlanta.

Yeah, I think A Confederacy of Dunces is probably the perfect New Orleans book.

Faulkner's 'As I Lay Dying' had an immense effect on me, and most of my novels bear the burn marks of this experience, those short chapters with their conflicting points of view, truth expressed by multiple perspectives. The other attractive thing about 'As I Lay Dying' was the way it gave rich voices to the poor.

When I read 'Absalom, Absalom!,' I remember being really excited about it and telling all my friends they had to read it, especially my writer friends.

In all my stories and novels, no one ever escapes Louisiana. Maybe that is because my soul never left Louisiana, although my body did go to California.

Eudora Welty's 'A Curtain of Green' had an enormous effect on me. But my early attempts to graft stories from the Deep South onto North of England provincialism were not successful. All were rejected.

Of course, I'm of the generation that grew up with Hemingway and Faulkner as strong influences.

I have finished To Kill a Mockingbird. It is now my favorite book of all time, but then again, I always think that until I read another book.

I had 'Push' and 'The Paperboy' next to my bed for many years. Those are some of the great, great novels.

'As I Lay Dying,' I reread that often. That's the first work of Faulkner's that I read that so amazed me and that I responded to emotionally and viscerally. I admired it so much, and I think that's why I keep rereading it.

I love everything that Cormac McCarthy has written.

When I was young, I was a passionate reader of Sartre. I've read the American novelists, in particular the lost generation - Faulkner, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Dos Passos - especially Faulkner. Of the authors I read when I was young, he is one of the few who still means a lot to me.

To kill a mockingbird. If you haven't read it, I think you should because it is very interesting.

'A Streetcar Named Desire' is one of the best, if not the best, modern American plays. It deals with family dynamics, mental health, PTSD, war, and love. It's hard to beat.

I love Tennessee Williams pieces; they are so poetic and I love period pieces.

One of my favorite movies is The Little Foxes.

When I was a teenager, the number one book I was most obsessed with was 'Gone with the Wind.'

The book that first made me want to be a writer is Flannery O'Connor's short story collection 'A Good Man Is Hard To Find.'

I saw 'True Blood' once, and I like the jazzy feel of it and stuff.

When I read Daniel Woodrell's novel 'Winter's Bone,' I was drawn to the characters, the setting, and the sound of the dialog.

I was a lusty kid who loved Tennessee Williams.

Tennessee Williams was a gifted talker with a beautiful accent and we had lots of things in common.

Flannery O'Connor is my creative hero. I think she's the greatest American writer. Her book, 'Mystery and Manners,' is my creative bible.