Book Quote by Michael Boatman

I've long come to the conclusion that when people say they can't put a book down, they don't mean they're interested in what's happening…

— David Malouf

I really don't like books when characters are just bad or just good.

— Ellen Ullman

All the best novels are about one thing: how we go on. The characters must survive the fallout of their own cowardice, folly, denial…

— Julia Glass

That's what people expect: They don't want to read a slight novel. People don't want to waste their time on anything less than 'great.'

— Jenny Zhang

I like getting under the skin of the protagonists of every book I read, it makes the whole story so much more personal.

— Shweta Bachchan Nanda

Characters develop as the book progresses, but any that start to bore me end up in the wastepaper basket. In real life, we may…

— Laurie Graham

I do find it challenging to leave stuff out. Two of my models for novel-writing are 'The Great Gatsby' and 'As I Lay Dying,'…

— Amy Bloom

A novel ensures that we can look before and after, take action at whatever pace we choose, read again and again, skip and go…

— William Golding

The really great novel tends to be the exact negative of its author's life.

— Andre Maurois

It may sound very strange, but I love the freedom that writing a novel gives me. It is an unhindered experience. If I come…

— Ashwin Sanghi

My novels are never truly finished, even if they're published and sitting on the shelf. While I may no longer be interested in spending…

— Jillian Medoff

I personally can't think of anything less sacrosanct than a bad book or even a mediocre book.

— Helene Hanff