Julia Glass
Julia Glass
Julia Glassis an American novelist. Her debut novel, Three Junes, won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2002...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth23 March 1956
CountryUnited States of America
bookstores depends somewhat
Somewhat sadly, the survival of many bookstores now depends on selling merchandise other than books.
affecting books pass permanent touch
The books I read, if they intrude on my writing, do so as weather will pass through and touch a landscape - affecting it, yes, but only now and then leaving a permanent mark.
books love pleasures tactile variety
My love of books - not just of their tactile pleasures but of their astonishing variety - was born in a book-filled house; my father is a scholar.
books brilliant cutting delusions draft editor gently midwife necessary peace point rather taking war
My first draft is always way too long; my books start out with delusions of 'War and Peace' - and must be gently disabused. My editor is brilliant at taking me to the point where I do all the necessary cutting on my own. I like to say she's a midwife rather than a surgeon.
ability admire books novel points readers seems whether
My readers often tell me that what they admire about my books is my ability to write from so many points of view. My challenge to myself is whether I'll ever be able to write a novel just from one point of view. It seems impossible.
authors best books compare consider favorite heard home literary love might notes opportunity realize reviews
I read reviews and consider myself pretty 'plugged in' to the literary cosmos, yet one of the things I love best about book-touring is the opportunity to compare notes with favorite booksellers around the country. I always come home with books by authors I'd never heard of - or books I've read about but didn't realize I might love.
books time
I don't see how you can write well if you're not reading well at the same time. I think the only risk is reading too many books of one 'type' in a row.
dog horse book
I grew up in a home where animals were ever-present and often dominated our lives. There were always horses, dogs, and cats, as well as a revolving infirmary of injured wildlife being nursed by my sister the aspiring vet. Without any conscious intention on my part, animals come to play a significant role in my fiction: in Three Junes, a parrot and a pack of collies; in The Whole World Over, a bulldog named The Bruce. To dog lovers, by the way, I recommend My Dog Tulip by J. R. Ackerley -- by far the best 'animal book' I've ever read.
teacher book writing
Nothing teaches great writing like the very best books do. Yet, good teachers often help students cross that bridge, and I have to say that I had a few extraordinary English teachers in high school whom I still credit for their guidance.
Sometimes the writing leads to the revelations, not the other way around.
art fluent foreign native
Visual art is a foreign language I'm fluent at, but my native language is language.
Virginia Woolf was wrong. You do not need a room of your own to write.
fiction lives nature quite since stuff wonder writers
I wonder if it's in the nature of fiction writers to never quite see their own lives as 'real,' since we are always making stuff up!
answering arise everyday heart inside living love questions simply
I write because I'm in love with language; because I like working for myself, inside my head; and because it's the only way I know to make a stab at answering the never-ending questions of the heart that arise simply from the everyday living of our lives.