“From late-period le Carré espionage thriller to cult Instagram read, for every kind of fiction lover, here are the novels we loved in 2019.”— Vogue, Chloe Schama, vogue.com
“Complex friendship between women is a perennial theme in so many stories. Fans of Italian author Elena Ferrante, whose Neapolitan novels charted such a friendship throughout decades, were excited to discover she has a new novel coming out, but if you simply can’t wait for that, here’s a—by no means…”— Emily Specter, Vogue, vogue.com
“You spend all your life writing novels and hoping they’re going to be your breakthrough book, and when you have your biggest book, and it’s the book about the worst experience of your life, it is slightly a double-edged sword.”— Matt Haig, theguardian.com
“Oh, I love any book about vampires, werewolves, monsters, zombies, sorcerers, beasties, or time-traveling romances. And if I had an hour alone with Robert Pattinson, he would forget all about Skinny Legs Magee, I’ll tell you that much.”— Michael Schur, Donna Meagle, Retta, imdb.com
“Artists, long-term success is built through lots of small, daily victories. It doesn't happen overnight.”— Eric Alper, twitter.com
“Slowly, like a movie fade out, the real world evaporates. I'm alone, inside the world of the story. My favorite feeling in the world.”— Haruki Murakami, amazon.com
“Seriously, though, not buying a book until the series is complete because you're mad at some authors for not finishing theirs is a great way to ensure there won't be any more books.”— Sam Sykes, twitter.com
“If you read a book, rate it. If you loved a book, share it. If you care about a book, talk it up. I cannot tell you the strength of word-of-mouth. It is vast. You have power.”— V.E. Schwab, twitter.com
“Books and writers give such immense and unexpected comfort, it really is something else. Grateful, as ever.”— Lisa Lucas, twitter.com
“You must understand that when you are writing a novel you are not making anything up. It's all there and you just have to find it.”— Thomas Harris, amazon.com
“What was missing in all of them, he thought, was a recognition of Africans as people with projects—lives they were leading, aspirations they were striving for—and a rich existing culture, exemplified in the proverbs and the religious traditions that are threaded through these novels. He was writing,…”— Chinua Achebe, amazon.com
“One of the great epiphanies of my lifetime was realizing that I disliked so many female characters because they were created by men who didn’t like women.”— Rainbow Rowell, twitter.com
“Writers aren’t (always) creating Easter egg hunts for readers, hiding references for them to find. But generally, you can assume that if you DO find something, it was put there on purpose for you.”— Celeste Ng, twitter.com
“To present a scientific subject in an attractive and stimulating manner is an artistic task, similar to that of a novelist or even a dramatic writer. The same holds for writing textbooks.”— Max Born, todayinsci.com
“Even if they like it, people will remember the plot twist, the worldbuilding, the gimmick only until they find the next one. But they’ll never, ever forget a character they like.”— Sam Sykes, twitter.com
“DO read books with compelling characters whose choices drive the plot. DON’T tape hornet nests to your hands and call yourself Hornethands Jones.”— Sam Sykes, twitter.com
“I feel like 'fun' is frequently dismissed as a quality of a book, usually played down as escapism or, usually, just as a side note. Few people actually talk about what a fun book means. For me, it’s never meant escapism. 'Fun' means joy. It means the prose is exciting, the characters are great, the…”— Sam Sykes, twitter.com
“To me the best books are the ones that make me SO ANGRY because like what gives you the right to write this well, you know? Beautiful sentences make me want to throw books and that's how I know the writer is killing it. Like, this may be just me because I write, but when I read so called "good" writ…”— rachel syme, twitter.com