Reader S Favorite Quotes

Sometimes, the choices we make have devastating consequences ~ Jeanette Vaughan

I would say that my ideal of writing history is to give the reader vicarious experience. You're born in one particular century at a particular time, and the only experience you can have directly is of the place you live and the time you live in. History is a way of giving you experience that you would otherwise be cut off from. ~ Edmund S. Morgan

A good book tells a story, and the reader is either pleased or displeased, intrigued or bored. A great book invites the reader to respond, to argue, to challenge. ~ Harold S. Kushner

With a bit of luck, his life was ruined forever. Always thinking that just behind some narrow door in all of his favorite bars, men in red woolen shirts are getting incredible kicks from things he'll never know. ~ Hunter S. Thompson

It was the heaviest thing I'd ever felt, as if I were being crushed under a thousand trucks. I wanted to black out from the pain, but I breathed deeply. I can do this. ~ Rick Riordan

I'm S. Theodora Markson," she said.
"I'm Lemony Snicket," I said, and handed her an envelope I had in my Pocket. Inside was something we called a letter of introduction, just a few paragraphs describing me as somebody who was an excellent reader, a good cook, a mediocre musician and an awful quarreler. ~ Lemony Snicket

One of your most ancient writers, a historian named Herodotus, tells of a thief who was to be executed. As he was taken away he made a bargain with the king: in one year he would teach the king's favorite horse to sing hymns. The other prisoners watched the thief singing to the horse and laughed. "You will not succeed," they told him. "No one can." To which the thief replied, "I have a year, and who knows what might happen in that time. The king might die. The horse might die. I might die. And perhaps the horse will learn to sing. ~ Jerry Pournelle

I wish my prose to be transparent-I don't want the reader to stumble over me; I want him to look through what I'm saying to what I'm describing. I don't want him ever to say, Oh, goodness, how nicely written this is. That would be a failure. ~ V.S. Naipaul

With a slow wink, he set the book in Tamaqua's hands. "One of my favorites. ~ C.J. Milbrandt

It was nice meeting you three, and I'm sure under different circumstances it would have been a pleasure. ~ S.A. Tawks

At all ages, if [fantasy and myth] is used well by the author and meets the right reader, it has the same power: to generalize while remaining concrete, to present in palpable form not concepts or even experiences but whole classes of experience, and to throw off irrelevancies. Bat at its best it can do more; it can give us experiences we have never had and thus, instead of 'commenting on life,' can add to it. ~ C.S. Lewis

It's okay, Ms Rainn, you were simply lost in your imagination. ~ S.A. Tawks

Through her eyes the day was new and anything was possible. ~ S.A. Tawks

Every reader his or her book.
Every book its reader. ~ S.R. Ranganathan

Never ask about the details of someone's personal life, only the quality. Because if they want you to know, they'll let you know. If they don't want you to know, there is no need to know. ~ S.A. Tawks

I don't claim to know everything, Wally. I only claim that everything can eventually be known. ~ S.A. Tawks

I don't know if any single book made me want to write. C.S. Lewis was the first writer to make me aware that somebody was writing the book I was reading - these wonderful parenthetical asides to the reader. ~ Neil Gaiman

Despite the touching sentimentality of my grandmother's favorite hymn, "In the Garden," it is simply not true that you come to the garden alone with Jesus and "the joy we share as we tarry there none other has ever known." If your personal relationship with Jesus is utterly unique, then it is not properly Christian. ~ Michael S. Horton

No one knows if something works until it actually works. That's why you must always try. ~ S.A. Tawks

We who have been true readers all our life fully realize the enormous of our being which we owe to authors. ~ C.S. Lewis

I don't wait for inspiration. Writing is my job. ~ Gail Carson Levine

You have not realized yet that both of you are mine, have you? ~ D.S. Wrights

Oh, don't get me started! I love fantasy, I read it for pleasure, even after all these years. Pat McKillip, Ursula Le Guin and John Crowley are probably my favorite writers in the field, in addition to all the writers in the Endicott Studio group - but there are many others I also admire. In children's fantasy, I'm particularly keen on Philip Pullman, Donna Jo Napoli, David Almond and Jane Yolen - though my favorite novels recently were Midori Snyder's Hannah's Garden, Holly Black's Tithe, and Neil Gaiman's Coraline.

I read a lot of mainstream fiction as well - I particularly love Alice Hoffman, A.S. Byatt, Sara Maitland, Sarah Waters, Sebastian Faulks, and Elizabeth Knox. There's also a great deal of magical fiction by Native American authors being published these days - Louise Erdrich's Antelope Wife, Alfredo Vea Jr.'s Maravilla, Linda Hogan's Power, and Susan Power's Grass Dancer are a few recent favorites.

I'm a big fan of Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens, and Anthony Trollope - I re-read Jane Austen's novels in particular every year.Other fantasists say they read Tolkien every year, but for me it's Austen. I adore biographies, particularly biographies of artists and writers (and particularly those written by Michael Holroyd). And I love books that explore the philosophical side of art, such as Lewis Hyde's The Gift, Carolyn Heilbrun's Writing a Woman's Life, or David Abram's Spell of the Sensuous.

(from a 2002 interview) ~ Terri Windling

But I believe that good questions are more important than answers, and the best children's books ask questions, and make the reader ask questions. And every new question is going to disturb someone's universe. ~ Madeleine L'Engle

I guess the most epic romances are still tucked away within the pages of her favorite novels, safely swathed in inked lies and faded paper promises. Forever fictional. Just like love. ~ S.L. Jennings

One shot is all anyone needs if they back themselves and do it right. ~ S.A. Tawks

Do you know what the best and worst thing about a book is? The author can't answer all your questions, only your imagination can. ~ S.A. Tawks

Men cannot be nice and kind to a woman and have no affection for them. ~ S.A. Tawks

Between giant spiders and meeting Edmund Ellis did I have a chance, Ms Rainn? ~ S.A. Tawks

Children's literature is considerably more functional than a good portion of adult literature. If I were cynical, I might say: Children's books are written to be read; adult books are written to be talked about at cocktail parties.
There may be more truth that cynicism in that statement. My impression is that many adult books are written only to shock the reader (a short term goal, since shock quickly turns into boredom) or as calisthenics for the author's ego.
On the other hand, children's literature seems an area where books function as they were meant to; where they amaze, delight, and move our emotions. We can respect and admire any number of current adult books, but I find it hard to love them. ~ Lloyd Alexander

This didn't sound good. It sounded like the optimism was escaping from him. ~ S.A. Tawks

Ms Rainn, you might say, is a writing prodigy and I'm her mentor. ~ S.A. Tawks

Naturally, since I myself am a writer, I do not wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books. But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old. ~ C.S. Lewis