When I talk to friends and editors about possible projects, especially about projects that might come with a significant cash advance, they usually suggest a biography. Sometimes I’m tempted, but the prospect of spending years researching and writing about someone else’s life offends my vanity. Michael Dirda Read Quote
The only kind of notebook I actively dislike is the steno pad, entirely because of that vertical line down the middle of the page. I presume it has some arcane secretarial use, but to me, it’s both ugly and confusing. Michael Dirda Read Quote
Not all of E. Nesbit’s children’s books are fantasies, but even the most realistic somehow seem magical. In her holiday world, nobody ever goes to school, though all the kids know their English history, Greek myths, and classic tales of derring-do. Michael Dirda Read Quote
At 17, I traveled to Mexico in a lemon yellow Mustang and saved money by bunking down in cheap, cockroach-infested flophouses. In my early 20s, I went on to thumb rides through Europe, readily sleeping in train stations, my backpack as a pillow. Once I even hunkered down for a night on a sidewalk grate – for warmth – in Paris. Michael Dirda Read Quote
I haven’t read for pleasure in 35 years. I mean, I get a lot of pleasure from what I read… For me, it’s gotten so that it doesn’t seem as though I’ve read a book unless I’ve written about it. It really seems the completion of the reading process. Michael Dirda Read Quote
Back in the 1950s and ’60s, J. M. Barrie’s ‘Peter Pan’ – starring Mary Martin and Cyril Ritchard – was regularly aired on network television during the Christmas season. I must have seen it four or five times and remember, in particular, Ritchard’s gloriously camp interpretation of Captain Hook. Michael Dirda Read Quote
With the possible exception of steampunk aficionados, many reasonable people must view my fascination with Victorian and Edwardian popular fiction – mysteries, fantasy, and adventure – as eccentric or merely antiquarian. Michael Dirda Read Quote
Since I make my living as a literary journalist, not a book scout, I spend inordinate amounts of time either reading or writing. Michael Dirda Read Quote
I love the look of books published by the firm of Rupert Hart-Davis: They strike me as handsome, elegant, and inviting. I’ll pick up almost anything with that imprint, especially if it’s in a jacket or priced low. Michael Dirda Read Quote
I don’t think of myself as a critic at all. I’m a reviewer and essayist. I mainly hope to share with others my pleasure in the books and authors I write about, though sometimes I do need to cavil and point out shortcomings. Michael Dirda Read Quote
