“He used books the same way he used alcohol: to pretend that he was not here, and if he was here, that he was happy for a change.” — Joe Queenan Copy Share Image
“...books, ingeniously coupled with music and alcohol, enabled the Irish to transcend reality.” — Joe Queenan Copy Share
As was the case in Requiem for a Dream, Pollock, A Beautiful Mind, House of Sand and Fog, The Hulk and Dark Water, Connelly's… — Joe Queenan Copy Share
Books did not need to be beautiful back in the Fifties, because nothing else was beautiful back then. Books were simply there: you read… — Joe Queenan Copy Share
“The problem with the English Patient is that to enjoy it, you have to be either English or patient.” — Joe Queenan Copy Share
Purists maintain that if you go to a baseball game you will almost always see something you have never seen before. Unfortunately, it usually… — Joe Queenan Copy Share
My books have been part of my life forever. They have been good soldiers, boon companions. Every book has survived numerous purges over the… — Joe Queenan Copy Share
Great writers say things that are so beautiful, the very act of repeating them makes life itself more beautiful. — Joe Queenan Copy Share
A friend once told me that the real message Bram Stoker sought to convey in 'Dracula' is that a human being needs to live… — Joe Queenan Copy Share
Every life, even the best ones, ends in sadness. Books hold out hope that things may end otherwise. — Joe Queenan Copy Share
“Unless paid, I never read books by or about businessmen or politicians, nor should anyone else.” — Joe Queenan Copy Share
Saddling another person with a book he did not ask for has always seemed to me like a huge psychological imposition, like forcing someone… — Joe Queenan Copy Share
“I do not accept reading tips from strangers, especially from indecisive men whose shirt collars are a dramatically different color from the main portion… — Joe Queenan Copy Share
Reading is the way mankind delays the inevitable. Reading is the way we shake our fist at the sky. As long as we have… — Joe Queenan Copy Share
If you have read 6,000 books in your lifetime, or even 600, it's probably because at some level you find 'reality' a bit of a disappointment. — Joe Queenan Copy Share
