To you, perceptive reader, I bequeath my history.
Maybe this is why we read, and why in moments of darkness we return to books: to find words for what we already know.
Books. They are lined up on shelves or stacked on a table. There they are wrapped up in their jackets, lines of neat print on nicely bound pages. They look like such orderly, static things. Then you,...
Every reader wants the same thing: to open the cover of a book and watch the words explode like fireworks off the page.
Thanks for being the kind of person who likes to pick up a book. That's a genuinely great thing. I met a librarian recently who said she doesn't read because books are her job and when she goes home,...
As readers, we are seldom interested in the fine sentiments of a lesson learnt; we seldom care about the good manners of morals. Repentance puts an end to conversation; forgiveness becomes the stuff o...
And it is no true wisdom that you offer your disciples, but only its semblance, for by telling them of many things without teaching them anything, you will make them seem to know much, while for the m...
Writing is a craft, being an author is work, and having readers and a following is a gift.
The odd thing about people who had many books was how they always wanted more.
Of all books printed, probably not more than half are ever read. Many are embalmed in public libraries; many go into private quarters to fill spaces; many are glanced at and put away...scarcely opened...
Those who generate fog are Wizards of Oz hoping desperately that nobody pulls the curtain to reveal a trembling little writer behind it. This seldom happens. Readers who dare to point out that incompr...
Novelists are basically inviting their readers to play a game of pretend. That's what fiction is: a game of pretend.
I want you to tell all these people that I wanted more time to spend with them. Tell them I meant to, tell them I wanted to hear what they said and tell them what was on my mind.
We were all serious readers, sitting on wooden chairs at rows of lecterns, turning the pages, united in mutual love of isolation.
If every library is in some sense a reflection of its readers, it is also an image of that which we are not, and cannot be.
Readers can surprise you. Many times, they notice layers in your stories, that even you were not aware of while writing.
Lost: The common sense of an unconventional dreamer. If found, please return to Love The Stacks.
I never minded the random scribblings of other readers, found them interesting in fact. It is a truth universally acknowledged that people write the darndest things in the margins of their books.
I believe that being able to communicate directly with readers is a boon. I certainly enjoy it as much as they do.
I hope for what I always hope for as a writer: a critical but kind reader. I think that is what we all hope for.