Even the best novelists are rarely congratulated on the quality of their observations about contemporary life. — Michelle Dean Copy Share Image
Summer is always a tricky time to recommend new literary fiction. The big releases do not hit until fall. — Michelle Dean Copy Share Image
Self-publishing has been a dubious challenge to traditional publishers, at best. — Michelle Dean Copy Share Image
Most people do not pay attention to the publisher's imprint on a given book. — Michelle Dean Copy Share Image
A good novelist pays attention to his characters. A good biographer pays attention to the documents before her. A good critic pays… — Michelle Dean Copy Share Image
Vacation reading is not a new concept. Ever since the 19th century, when novels were considered relatively sinful indulgences, leisure and fiction-reading… — Michelle Dean Copy Share Image
Literary novelists who have a strong handle on plot are often characterized as good vacation reads because they manage to transport you… — Michelle Dean Copy Share Image
Mass market paperback thrillers are a dime a dozen. The trick is to find something that actually sticks to the ribs. — Michelle Dean Copy Share Image
Great novels are maps of complication, leading nowhere in particular, taking stances only provisionally and obliquely, happy to be tangled and to… — Michelle Dean Copy Share Image
When Paul Beatty's 'The Sellout' was first published in America in 2015, it was a small release. It got a rave review… — Michelle Dean Copy Share Image
There is an unfortunate side effect of being a person of few words: Sometimes people will assume you are less intelligent than you are. — Michelle Dean Copy Share
Poems are ideally suited, in some ways, to social media because they pack so much meaning into so little language. — Michelle Dean Copy Share
The diversity of perspective, the unwillingness to generalise - those are good traits in countries as they are in art. — Michelle Dean Copy Share
When Paul Beatty's 'The Sellout' was first published in America in 2015, it was a small release. It got a rave review in the… — Michelle Dean Copy Share
Hollywood versions of watershed moments in American history are generally high-minded shlock. 'JFK,' 'The People vs. Larry Flynt,' even 'Lincoln': all of these boast… — Michelle Dean Copy Share
I still think, most of the time, when people called shows like 'The Sopranos' or 'Deadwood' 'art' that they were correct. — Michelle Dean Copy Share
Saying that you spend Christmas alone is, to most middle-class Americans, akin to confessing a terminal illness. — Michelle Dean Copy Share
There are many things to like about 'Mr. Robot,' the most ephemeral and yet memorable of them being the opening credits. — Michelle Dean Copy Share
Bad criticism recites rote arguments. The shame of rote arguments isn't just that they're cliches, though they are, but that they tend to hide… — Michelle Dean Copy Share
Research can be a boon to a novelist - there are more things in heaven and Earth than can be dreamt of in a… — Michelle Dean Copy Share
In an age where television is viewed as the best medium to 'tell stories,' narrative often stands in for substance on would-be prestige shows. — Michelle Dean Copy Share
Feminists are disappointed in each other a lot, a natural side effect of being involved in a movement, which naturally implies that progress toward… — Michelle Dean Copy Share
Hillbilly stereotypes have always made it easier for middle-class whites to presume that racism is the exclusive province of 'that kind' of person. — Michelle Dean Copy Share
Book awards - in America, at least - are not like the Oscars. Awards are not cumulative, and in the case of something like… — Michelle Dean Copy Share
