People try to glorify war, particularly those who aren’t actually fighting in them. People tend to make heroes of those who are fighting in them. John Boyne Read Quote
Throughout my teenage years, I read ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens every December. It was a story that never failed to excite me, for as well as being a Dickens enthusiast, I have always loved ghost stories. John Boyne Read Quote
I move between the two: I write an adult novel, and then I write a children’s book. I quite enjoy that. It’s a nice change of pace each time. John Boyne Read Quote
I hope for so much from every book I read. And time and again, I find myself disappointed. I look across my bookshelves and see hundreds of titles which in my memory seem merely mediocre or second-rate. Only occasionally does a novel appear for which I feel a lasting passion, a book that I think could in time become a classic. John Boyne Read Quote
I wrote my first book at 20, but my whole focus from about the age of 12 was to be a writer. John Boyne Read Quote
It’s not easy making a living as a writer, and for many years I worked at a Waterstones in Dublin. It was a good environment for an aspiring writer, with lots of events and authors appearing. John Boyne Read Quote
What makes a classic is difficult to define. It’s entirely subjective, of course. And the term is employed far too promiscuously. John Boyne Read Quote
