I grew up with a very romantic, idealized vision of New York, probably because of all the books I read and the movies I watched.
I had this desire to see the world. I couldn't see any of it, but I saw it in my imagination, and that's why I always read books, and I could go to Mars or Middle Earth or the Hyborian age.
As a young boy, I read 'Cheaper by the Dozen' and immediately became neurotic about my use of time. It taxed me severely, but only for the next 50 years. But I think it also allowed me to discipline myself to sit in the chair and be a writer, where one of the most needed qualities is patience.
It's funny to see how people react to the project, to read their thoughts, and I wonder aloud, 'Did they even watch the movie? Did they even get it?' I know we, myself and the entire cast, put a lot of heart, love and humor into 'Meet the Peeples'. I'm very proud of that film and what we were able to accomplish.
I fantasised about F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby' - I loved it, and then I read everything J. D. Salinger had to offer. Then I was turned on to Kerouac, and his spontaneous prose, his stream of consciousness way of writing. I admired him so much, and I romanticised so much about the '40s and '50s.
By writing... in the language of his society, a poet takes a large step toward it. It is society's job to meet him halfway, that is, to open his book and read it.
I had once been told my ability to read would only reach that of a ten-year-old, but I was determined to achieve more.
I was thrilled to be able to read at three. I just thought everyone loved reading as much as I did.
Cynics will say there are no good people out there. And if you read the papers and watch TV news you could be convinced of that. But there are good people.
No American can read the story of the part America took in the war without experiencing a glow of patriotic feeling. Every Allied nation can say the same thing.
During my first years in the Sierra, I was ever calling on everybody within reach to admire them, but I found no one half warm enough until Emerson came. I had read his essays, and felt sure that of all men he would best interpret the sayings of these noble mountains and trees. Nor was my faith weakened when I met him in Yosemite.
I read a lot of research notes about the countries I visit, and my mum and dad bought me a Kindle, but I'm still getting to grips with it. I prefer paper books.
I read mostly fiction, a lot of 19th-century novels.
What having a Down's syndrome child isn't - and I feel very strongly about this - is a tragedy. All those pregnancy books you read when you are expecting refer to Down's syndrome as if it were the worst possible outcome, and it's not.
If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.
I think that the women's magazines and a lot of those quick tips for better sex, I think that they do people a disservice, sometimes, because they become very focused on - they're thinking, 'Okay, I read that I should do this, and am I doing it right?'
One of the first serious attempts I made to write a novel was when I was in Grade 6 and I had read 'Matilda.' I wrote my own version and my teacher had it bound and permitted me to read it to the class - cementing my love of reading, writing and Roald Dahl!
I was once again looking for a book idea, and I remembered Holmes, but I specifically remembered that there was this World's Fair thing in the background. I thought, 'I'll read about the fair.' I had nothing better to do. I'd dismissed about a dozen ideas, and I was getting sort of antsy. I started reading, and that's where I got hooked.
When I was an adolescent in England, at school we had to read 'Death of a Salesman.' I remember feeling incredibly moved by the portrayal of these people and the idea with which Miller broached the whole subject of failure or failed systems, or the way that people are crushed by a system in which they find themselves.
If kids like a picture book, they're going to read it at least 50 times, and their parents are going to have to read it with them. Read anything that often, and even minor imperfections start to feel like gravel in the bed.
I read a lot of true crime growing up - 'The Stranger Beside Me' by Ann Rule about Ted Bundy.
The whole purpose of books is that we read them, and if you find you can't, it might not be your inadequacy that's to blame. 'Good' books can be pretty awful sometimes.
I'm not as well read as I was when I was younger - I just devoured books.
Before I leave for the office in the morning, I read the 'Financial Times' and the 'Economist.' The key articles I need to understand are there, after which I focus on prep for the day.
I have people that I'm close to that give me things to read throughout the season, and in particular in the playoffs and the postseason.
I read the Drudge Report! And wander around Facebook sometimes!
I think that there is a tragic misfit at the core of me, and I've just done a lot of work on myself. I love a good self-help book; I've read a ton of them. I love self-help seminars and therapy and all that.
I grew up in a bookish family, so I read very widely. I was omnivorous, really.
I try to write the kind of books I like to read.
I read the entire 'Alias' series. I devoured them.
When I read Toni Morrison and Sandra Cisneros as a freshman at Rutgers, it all clicked - that writing was all I wanted to do. It became my calling.
I had the opportunity to go and read to cancer patients in hospitals and saw how something as little as that could make someone's day. I also think it's important to support people who are standing up for a good cause, so that's why I get involved with different campaigns and charities.
My father went to work by train every day. It was half an hour's journey each way, and he would read a paperback in four journeys. After supper, we all sat down to read - it was long before TV, remember!
I gathered as much reading material about Aung San Suu Kyi and about Burma as I could. And I read every article and every book she had written. I also had 200 hours of footage of her to watch. I tried to discover who were her heroes and where he desire and strength to pursue democracy in a non-violent fashion came from.
A world without newspapers or a world where the newspapers are purely electronic and you read them on a screen is not a very appealing world.
I think for Amazon's customers, it offers a kind of addictive service - the ability to shop without leaving your house, the ability to read without going to a bookstore or a library.
