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I read a lot of literary theory when I was in graduate school, especially about novels, and the best book I ever read about endings was Peter Brooks' 'Reading for the Plot. '

Lev Grossman

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Lev Grossman
Age: 55
Born: 1969
Born: June 26
Journalist
Literary Critic
Novelist
Science Fiction Writer
Writer
Lexington
Massachusetts
Theory
Graduate
Reading
Graduates
Read
Literary
School
Peter
Best
Novels
Ever
Plot
Book
Especially
Endings
Novel
Brooks

More quotes by Lev Grossman

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A big silvery janitor. Penny, this can’t be how the universe works.” “In the Order we call it ‘inverse profundity.’ We’ve observed it in any number of cases. The deeper you go into the cosmic mysteries, the less interesting everything gets.
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I feel that's one of the central questions of fantasy. What did we lose when we entered the 20th and 21st century, and how can we mourn what we lost, and what can we replace it with? We're still asking those questions in an urgent way.
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I mean, when you're tired of book reviews, you're tired of life.
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It's a terrible thing for a book, when you feel like you're supposed to like it.
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For just one second, look at your life and see how perfect it is. Stop looking for the next secret door that is going to lead you to your real life. Stop waiting. This is it: there's nothing else. It's here, and you'd better decide to enjoy it or you're going to be miserable wherever you go, for the rest of your life, forever.
Lev Grossman
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It's very important, at least to me as a writer, that there be some rules on the table when I'm writing. Rules come from genres. You're writing in a genre, there are rules, which is great because then you can break the rules. That's when really exciting things happen.
Lev Grossman
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It's a great thing when you feel that you recognize yourself, deeply and movingly, in a work of literature.
Lev Grossman
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We have lived too long. The great days are past.
Lev Grossman
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Young minds - young brains - need stories and ideas like the ones in those [censored and banned] books in order to grow. They need ideas that you disagree with. They need ideas that I disagree with. Or they'll never be able to figure out what ideas they believe in.
Lev Grossman
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In a way fighting was just like using magic. You said the words, and they altered the universe. By merely speaking you could create damage and pain, cause tears to fall, drive people away, make yourself feel better, make your life worse.
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You don’t learn about yourself by being alone, you learn about yourself from other people.
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How often have I met and disliked writers whose books I love and conversely, hated the books and then wound up liking the writer? Too often.
Lev Grossman
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Magic: it was what happened when the mind met the world, and the mind won for a change.
Lev Grossman
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Magic is wild, dangerous stuff. You never realize how useful limitations are until it's much too late.
Lev Grossman
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People - me included - want to get excited about books. Good books are a good thing.
Lev Grossman
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Josh speculated about the hypothetical contents of an imaginary porn magazine for intelligent trees that would be entitled Enthouse.
Lev Grossman
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It's wonderful to play around with fantasy, because there are an amazing number of as-yet-unbroken rules out there.
Lev Grossman
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You're all so obsessed with other worlds, you're so convinced that this one is crap and everywhere else is great, but you've never bothered to figure out what's going on here!
Lev Grossman
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Read everything. If you haven't read everything, you'll never be able to write anything.
Lev Grossman
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Though the funny thing about never being asked for anything is that after a while you start to feel like maybe you don’t have anything worth giving.
Lev Grossman