I learned to write fiction the way I learned to read fiction - by skipping the parts that bored me.

Quote by Jonathan Lethem

Topics: Jonathan Lethem Quotes

I keep one simple rule that I only move in one direction - I write...

I keep one simple rule that I only move in one direction - I write...

When the civil rights battle was won, all the Jews and hippies and artists were...

When the civil rights battle was won, all the Jews and hippies and artists were...

I never take any notes or draw charts or make elaborate diagrams, but I hold...

I never take any notes or draw charts or make elaborate diagrams, but I hold...

I work on a laptop specifically so I can work in cafes and pretend I'm...

I work on a laptop specifically so I can work in cafes and pretend I'm...

What's lucky about my career in general is that I stumbled into what every writer...

What's lucky about my career in general is that I stumbled into what every writer...

I try not to become too regular an addict of any one subculture.

I try not to become too regular an addict of any one subculture.

The arts and a belief in the values of the civil rights movement, in the...

The arts and a belief in the values of the civil rights movement, in the...

I've had the odd good luck of starting slowly and building gradually, something few writers...

I've had the odd good luck of starting slowly and building gradually, something few writers...

I'd excluded New York from my writing, and then I came back and I fell...

I'd excluded New York from my writing, and then I came back and I fell...

It was only as I wrote about it that I began to find paths of...

It was only as I wrote about it that I began to find paths of...

The more film I watch, the more John Ford looks like a giant. His politics...

The more film I watch, the more John Ford looks like a giant. His politics...

Comics? Honestly, that's more a matter of nostalgia for me. I think most of that...

Comics? Honestly, that's more a matter of nostalgia for me. I think most of that...

In my third novel there is an actual black hole that swallows everything you love.

In my third novel there is an actual black hole that swallows everything you love.

The book is openly a kind of spiritual autobiography, but the trick is that on...

The book is openly a kind of spiritual autobiography, but the trick is that on...

Fantastic writing in English is kind of disreputable, but fantastic writing in translation is the...

Fantastic writing in English is kind of disreputable, but fantastic writing in translation is the...

The past is still visible. The buildings haven't changed, the layout of the streets hasn't...

The past is still visible. The buildings haven't changed, the layout of the streets hasn't...

It was good while it was good.

It was good while it was good.

I got into underground comics fairly early on and kind of wandered away from the...

I got into underground comics fairly early on and kind of wandered away from the...

It's now expected of me that I will defy expectation, so I really generally seem...

It's now expected of me that I will defy expectation, so I really generally seem...

I don't paint anymore. I haven't since I abandoned it at 19, in order to...

I don't paint anymore. I haven't since I abandoned it at 19, in order to...