26 Lev Grossman Quotes for You to Enjoy

Lev Grossman

American Novelist

Born: Jun 26, 1969

Book Books College Me Time You

Related authors: Elie Wiesel Ernest Hemingway H. P. Lovecraft James Baldwin John Updike Leo Rosten Nathaniel Hawthorne Richard Bach

I loved fantasy, but I particularly loved the stories in which somebody got out of where they were and into somewhere better - as in the 'Chronicles Of Narnia,' 'The Wizard Of Oz,' 'The Phantom Tollbooth,' the 'Dungeons & Dragons' cartoon on Saturday morning in the '80s. Lev Grossman

I've read plenty of J.G. Ballard, but I'm not really a Ballardian. I've met Ballardians, and I know when I can't compete. I like Ballard in his relatively unchallenging apocalyptic mode: 'Vermilion Sands,' 'The Drowned World,' 'The Burning World,' 'The Crystal World.' Lev Grossman

World Met Relatively Plenty Drowned Like Know Crystal Read His Mode Burning Sands Really Compete

Even though I have spent literally years of my life trying to learn another language, any other language - and even though I have in the past claimed in several key professional contexts that I speak other languages - I am in fact still trapped inside the bubble of English. Lev Grossman

Life Speak Key Language My Life Past Trapped Other Several Spent Claimed Though Inside Fact Bubble Learn Another Am Still Years Trying Any In Fact Literally In The Past Languages English Professional Even

When I got to college I simply decided that I could speak French, because I just could not spend any more time in French classes. I went ahead and took courses on French literature, some of them even taught in French. Lev Grossman

Hating a book is not unlike hating a person; in fact it's tempting to just go ahead and hate the author personally, by proxy, qua human being, except that I know that would be a mistake. Lev Grossman

A lot of young-adult authors, great ones, have tried their hands at literary fiction, and not a lot of them have succeeded. Not even Roald Dahl could switch-hit, and not for lack of trying. Lev Grossman

Great Tried Great Ones Could Lot Trying Hands Authors Lack Fiction Literary Literary Fiction Them Succeeded Even

One already feels like an anachronism, writing novels in the age of what-ever-this-is-the-age-of, but touring to promote them feels doubly anachronistic. The marketplace is showing an increasing intolerance for the time-honored practice of printing information on paper and shipping it around the country. Lev Grossman

Which is the healthier kind of literary diversity: an un-gate-kept self-published book world, run substantially through Amazon? Or our current book world, which is part-gate-kept, part-not, with many different publishers and retailers and platforms? I'm not smart enough to figure it out, but if I had to guess I'd guess the latter. Lev Grossman

Book World Smart Diversity Enough Guess Our Latter Out Kind Run Through Had Healthier Amazon Current Substantially Different Literary Which Figure Many Platforms Publishers

I've drunk Amazon's free Diet Coke. Nothing makes more sense to me than a company trying to make bookselling into a profitable business. I'm not anti-Amazon, and I'm not pro-publishers either. I'm pro-books. Lev Grossman

Me Business Free Drunk Sense Nothing Coke More Make Makes Amazon Than Trying Diet Either Company Profitable

More than fantasy or even science fiction, Ray Bradbury wrote horror, and like so many great horror writers he was himself utterly without fear, of anything. He wasn't afraid of looking uncool - he wasn't scared to openly love innocence, or to be optimistic, or to write sentimentally when he felt that way. Lev Grossman

Love Great Science Fear Looking Innocence Way Scared Horror More Write Writers He Ray Ray Bradbury Like Openly Wrote Himself Science Fiction Felt Without Optimistic Than Afraid Fiction Anything Fantasy Many Even Utterly