Latest Jesse Ball Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• I'm confused, and brilliant books help me to be less so.

  Jesse Ball

  Confused, Book, Helping

  Source: therumpus.net

• I don't read books for pleasure, but in desperation.

  Jesse Ball

  Book, Desperation, Pleasure

  Source: therumpus.net

• If Americans are to read something that is difficult, they will only do so supposing they will be admired for having done it.

  Jesse Ball

  Done, Difficult, Supposing

  Source: therumpus.net

• Americans are genuinely and profoundly anti-intellectual. They are especially so in their pleasure-seeking, which is epically banal.

  Jesse Ball

  Pleasure Seeking, Intellectual, Pleasure

  Source: therumpus.net

• I like small books. I like durable books. I like plain books. I like small type and thin pages.

  Jesse Ball

  Book, Pages, Type

  Source: therumpus.net

• As far as ideas about book design: I have plenty. But I also try and let people do their jobs.

  Jesse Ball

  Jobs, Book, Ideas

  Source: therumpus.net

• A person always has a chance to protest this or that.

  Jesse Ball

  Chance, Protest, Persons

  Source: therumpus.net

• A book can just be a description of a stick being snapped in half. If the reader is brought to feel the plight of the stick, well, you can imagine what that would be like.

  Jesse Ball

  Book, Sticks, Would Be

  Source: therumpus.net

• I don't think anything needs to happen in a book.

  Jesse Ball

  Book, Thinking, Needs

  Source: therumpus.net

• Clarity is the most important thing to me - in thinking - and so I try in the books to be as clear as possible.

  Jesse Ball

  Book, Thinking, Important

  Source: therumpus.net

• Much of my work has been done in first person.

  Jesse Ball

  Done, Firsts, Persons

  Source: therumpus.net

• I believe my friends think I'm funny. All the books are full of humor. Maybe it is a quiet sort of humor that masquerades as not-much-at-all. It is certainly easy to miss.

  Jesse Ball

  Believe, Book, Thinking

  Source: therumpus.net

• I begin with an image of some sort, just as if you saw something out of a window, and then went to the window to see what it was.

  Jesse Ball

  Saws, Window, Ifs

  Source: therumpus.net

• I have a very basic notion of the structure the book might have - that's mostly it. The rest is luck and happenstance.

  Jesse Ball

  Book, Luck, Might

  Source: therumpus.net

• I don't start with an idea or concept in the sense that I flesh out an idea or concept and set it at the center of something.

  Jesse Ball

  Ideas, Flesh, Concepts

  Source: therumpus.net

• Different times and different structures make more sense at one point in life than at another.

  Jesse Ball

  Different, Structure, Points In Life

  Source: therumpus.net

• A beginning idea for a book might be: a boy emerges from a hole in the ground. He enters a house. The book will take place in the first ten minutes following his arrival.

  Jesse Ball

  Book, Boys, Ideas

  Source: therumpus.net

• The books turn out to be about things afterwards. I don't go into them with concepts, for the most part.

  Jesse Ball

  Book, Turns, Concepts

  Source: therumpus.net

• I have a different purpose in writing each novel. Some of them seem more similar than others, but the purposes are always different.

  Jesse Ball

  Writing, Different, Purpose

  Source: therumpus.net

• I want to say less, and it's easier to say less.

  Jesse Ball

  Want, Easier

  Source: therumpus.net

• I'm clearer now in what I want to say, and I know better how to say just that.

  Jesse Ball

  Want, Knows

  Source: therumpus.net

• I am clearer in my mind and a bit less confused than I used to be.

  Jesse Ball

  Confused, Mind, Used To Be

  Source: therumpus.net

• I'd say writing is easier for me now than it once was, but I do less of it.

  Jesse Ball

  Writing, Easier

  Source: therumpus.net