Do we tend to recall the most important parts of a novel or those that speak most directly to us, the truest lines or the flashiest ones? Julian Barnes Read Quote
Often the grind of book promotion wearies you of your own book – though at the same time this frees you from its clutches. Julian Barnes Read Quote
The ways in which a book, once read, stays (and changes) in the reader’s mind are unpredictable. Julian Barnes Read Quote
It took me some years to clear my head of what Paris wanted me to admire about it, and to notice what I preferred instead. Not power-ridden monuments, but individual buildings which tell a quieter story: the artist’s studio, or the Belle Epoque house built by a forgotten financier for a just-remembered courtesan. Julian Barnes Read Quote
Most of us remember adolescence as a kind of double negative: no longer allowed to be children, we are not yet capable of being adults. Julian Barnes Read Quote
All bad things are exaggerated in the middle of the night. When you lie awake, you only think of bad things. Julian Barnes Read Quote
I am death-fearing. I don’t think I’m morbid. That seems to me a fear of death that goes beyond the rational. Whereas it seems to me to be entirely rational to fear death! Julian Barnes Read Quote
In 1980, I published my first novel, in the usual swirl of unjustified hope and justified anxiety. Julian Barnes Read Quote
I’m a novelist, so I can’t write about ideas unless they’re attached to people. Julian Barnes Read Quote