I'm obsessed with the Victorian novel. I can't help it. I feel like the novel then was so powerful and agile in… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
I spend so long writing each of my novels that by the time I'm done with one, I'm ready to discover a… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
As a reader and a writer, I'm happiest when apparently mutually exclusive states can somehow coexist. — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
In the case of 'Goon Squad,' which sold slowly for a long time despite the good reviews, those 'best of 2010' lists… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
I'm just interested in serialization in fiction. I'm fascinated by it. I love the 19th-century novels. I'm interested in ways to bring… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
I knew as far back as 2001 that I would write a book called 'A Visit From the Goon Squad,' though I… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
Goon Squad' took about three years to write and that's the short end. My second novel, 'Look at Me,' took six years. — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
I number my drafts, and by the time a book is done, I'll have 75 or 80 drafts of some sections. — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
I've been interested in terrorism from the very beginning. My first novel is about that, too, and I think one reason I've… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
I felt more doubtful than usual with 'Goon Squad,' because I knew that the book's genre wasn't easily named - Novel? Stories?… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
When I was little, I wanted to be a doctor. I was really interested in gore. My grandfather was an orthopedic surgeon… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
If you read novels of the 19th century, they're pretty experimental. They take lots of chances; they seem to break a lot… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
The book that is the closest genetically to 'Goon Squad' is 'Look at Me.' It has the futuristic element - although, freakishly,… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
I try consciously to keep myself entertained and challenged to not repeat myself at all. Like, when I start a new book,… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
The way that Dickens structured his books has a form that we most readily recognize now from, say, the great T.V. series,… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
I haven't read a lot of science fiction, and I never intend to write it; it seems to happen a little bit… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
Rebecca was an academic star. Her new book was on the phenomenon of word casings, a term she'd invented for words that… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
I always feel very afraid as I work on books. It's just so hard to write a decent book! — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
Read at the level at which you want to write. Reading is the nourishment that feeds the kind of writing you want… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
If you don't have people that the reader cares about and stories that are gripping, you've got nothing. — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
One futuristic novel that had a huge impact on me was Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein,' which is kind of science fiction plus Gothic. — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
I blurb a lot of books by women, and I'm eager to provide encouragement and support for young women. — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
Between books, I have to throw out everything I did before, because the tools I've used to write the previous book will… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
My last novel, 'The Keep,' was very explicitly technological, about the quality of living in a state constantly surrounded by disembodied presences,… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
If having a story that's compelling - you want to know what will happen - is traditional, then ultimately I am a… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
If I'm doing something I know I can pull off, then that's not the book I should be writing. — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
My first attempt at writing a novel was horrible. I had to throw it away. But I stuck with the idea, which… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
I love working with genre. And to me, the Victorian novel is the flourishing ancestor I'm always trying to access when I… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
When I pick up a book that's, you know, wreathed in laurels, I expect a lot, and that doesn't give the book… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
Training readers to expect a voice or subject matter from me would interfere with the reinvention I crave. At the same time,… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
When I think about a book like 'A Clockwork Orange,' which I really loved, the weird hybrid language is what I remember… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
Reading is a lot like eating for me: If I try to read a book I'm not hungry for, I won't enjoy… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
In a way, I started 'Goon Squad' not even realizing I was writing a book. I thought I was just writing a… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
It seemed impossible that a scrappy book like 'Goon Squad' could win an award like that. It's such an iconic honor. I… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
“Behind the desk was nothing but view-the whole city flung out in front of us the way street vendors fling out their towels packed… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
I just think that, for my particular personality, feeling slightly invisible is always a help. — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
Between books, I have to throw out everything I did before, because the tools I've used to write the previous book will not only… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
As a reader and a writer, I'm happiest when apparently mutually exclusive states can somehow coexist. — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
I teach intermittently, and while I enjoy it, I don't find that it's a calling for me. — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
Like all failed experiments, that one taught me something I didn’t expect: one key ingredient of so-called experience is the delusional faith that it… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
“Thousands of solar panels lift and tilt at the same time, in the same way. I clutch at Dad's arm: "Why are they doing… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
It was the hat. He looked sweet in the hat. How could a man in a fuzzy blue hat have used human bones to… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
I was a stepchild in two different families. The hardest thing about being a stepchild is you know that in some way everything would… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
“The seconds pass. I know what’s going on because it’s the same thing that always happens: give me something nice, something I love or… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
I had this idea that I could hire myself out as a person to go on archeological digs and dig, without any training! I… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
At night, the house thick with sleep, she would peer out her bedroom window at the trees and sky and feel the presence of… — Jennifer Egan Copy Share Image
