"Axiom: Novel must have either one living character or a perfect pattern: fails otherwise."

"Most historical novels suffer from the fatal twin defects of emphasizing the pastness of the past too much while at t…"

"I often find that a novel, even a well-written and compelling novel, can become a blur to me soon after I've finished…"

"What reading does, ultimately, is keep alive the dangerous and exhilarating idea that a life is not a sequence of liv…"

"If anything has changed about my reading over the years, it is that I value the state a book puts me in more that I v…"

"To read, when one does so of one's own free will, is to make a volitional statement, to cast a vote; it is to posit a…"

"All novels are sequels; influence is bliss."

"In writing a novel, when in doubt, have two guys come through the door with guns."

"People wonder why the novel is the most popular form of literature; people wonder why it is read more than books of s…"

"A good novel tells us about its hero. A bad novel tells us about the author."