Shortly after the 2004 Indonesian earthquake, I read that the earthquake had affected the rotation of the earth, shortening the length of our 24-hour day. Even though the change was extremely slight – only a few microseconds – I found the idea incredibly haunting. Karen Thompson Walker Read Quote
Sentences or solutions occur to me in the shower, or while running on the treadmill, or riding on the subway. Karen Thompson Walker Read Quote
The books I love most are the ones that combine some sort of gripping story with really beautiful or stylish writing. Some of my favorites are ‘The Road’ by Cormac McCarthy, ‘The Virgin Suicides’ by Jeffrey Eugenides, ‘The Interpreter of Maladies’ by Jhumpa Lahiri, and ‘Blindness’ by Jose Saramago. Karen Thompson Walker Read Quote
I can write all the way through the morning, when my mind is clear, and there are no distractions. Karen Thompson Walker Read Quote
I was a book editor for nine years. I’m familiar with the opposite experience, bracing myself for the likelihood that no one would want to publish my book. Karen Thompson Walker Read Quote
Sometimes I think I might not have written ‘The Age of Miracles’ if I hadn’t grown up in California, if I hadn’t been exposed to its very particular blend of beauty and disaster, of danger and denial. Karen Thompson Walker Read Quote
In general, I think I’m quick to worry about disasters of all kinds. Karen Thompson Walker Read Quote
I love conventional apocalypse movies. In movies, I like to be with the president, or the scientist trying to solve the problem, but that’s not the kind of fiction that I like to read. Karen Thompson Walker Read Quote
I feel like writing a book there’s always a version in your head that’s an amazing version, but then you write the version that you can write. Karen Thompson Walker Read Quote
I fell in love with Virginia Woolf in college. I especially admire how well she writes about daily life, how she captures so much meaning and consequence in the smallest details of a day. Karen Thompson Walker Read Quote
