Top Curtis Sittenfeld Quotes - Quotesmemo.com

Curtis Sittenfeld Biography

Elizabeth Curtis Sittenfeld (born 1975) is an American writer. She is author of five novels: Prep, the tale of a Massachusetts prep school; The Man of My Dreams, a coming-of-age novel and an examination of romantic love; American Wife, a fictional story loosely based on the life of First Lady Laura Bush; Sisterland, which tells the story of identical twins with psychic powers, as well as a number of short stories.

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Curtis Sittenfeld Quotes

It's different to read a book for pleasure than to read it analytically. In the past, I'd read Pride and Prejudice for pleasure. This time, I was really looking at the structure, the order of events, how the characters interact with each other and how the book is paced.

Book, Character, Different, Interact, Pride, Time

I feel like a lot of life is distasteful and embarrassing. And you just push through it. You fix what you can, and you let time pass.

Embarrassing, Let, Life Is, Like, Push, Time Passes

I thought, if I write a book that is not a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, it's not going to mean that I will not get any criticism. I might as well write the book that I want to write.

Book, Mean, Thought, Writing

I don't really have special rituals, but I don't try to write fiction unless I have a minimum of a few hours. For me, it takes a while to settle into a mode where I'm truly concentrating

Settle, Special, Trying, Write, Writing

I heard Gillian say, with a laugh, At this point, does anyone expect the liberals not to be total hypocrites? She was oblivious to the possibility that perhaps not everyone present shared her views, and I thought, You're sixteen. How can you already be a Republican?

Hypocrite, Hypocrites, Laughing, Perhaps, Views

We have to make mistakes, its how we learn compassion for others

Compassion, Learn, Make, Mistake, Mistakes, Understanding

I have always found the times when another person recognizes you to be strangely sad; I suspect the pathos of these moments is their rareness, the way they contrast with most daily encounters. That reminder that it can be different, that you need not go through your life unknown but that you probably still will--that is the part that's almost unbearable.

Different, Encounters, Needs, Part, Unknown, Way

I just think that people are complicated, both men and women. It happens that I write more about women.

Happens, Men, Thinking, Write, Writing

There are people we treat wrong and later, we're prepared to treat other people right.

People, Treats, Prepared, Right

Of course, I didn't imagine then that I could have had a real relationship with any guy. I thought that by virtue of being me I was disqualified.

Being Me, Disqualified, Guy, Real

Perhaps this is how you know you're doing the thing you're intended to: No matter how slow or how slight your progress, you never feel that it's a waste of time.

Progress, Matter, Waste, Thing, Slow

I do think I was trying to entertain the reader more than I was trying to purge myself.

Purge, Reader, Think, Thinking, Trying

I think that there's some confusion in my own mind about what I believe.

Believe, Confusion, Mind, Think, Thinking

I think in general, novels by men tend to be taken more seriously than novels by women.

Men, Taken, Think, Thinking, Women

. . . nothing broke my heart like the slow death of a shared joke that had once seemed genuinely funny.

Broke, Funny, Heart, Jokes, Nothing, Shared

It is not a camera, or a reporter that makes something real and genuine; more often a camera or a reporter does the opposite.

Cameras, Genuine, Opposite, Opposites, Real

My boarding school experience was the only thing I had strong enough feelings to write about for hundreds and hundreds of pages. I can still smell the formaldehyde of the fetal pigs in biology.

Enough, Pigs, School, Smell, Strong, Writing

I've had people say very dismissive things about my books, but I also feel like I probably have more readers because I'm a woman. I mean, more readers are women and more people who buy books are women, so I don't feel like it's a total disadvantage to be a female writer.

Book, Disadvantage, Female, Mean, People, Say

I don't think that I would ever, while writing, think to myself, "I need a little more psychological realism. "

Needs, Realism, Think, Thinking, Writing

. . and I thought how liking a boy was just the same as believing you wanted to know a secret - everything was better when you were denied and could feel tormented by curiousity or loneliness. But the moment of something happening was treacherous. It was just so tiring to have to worry about whether your face was peeling, or to have to laugh at stories that weren’t funny.

Believe, Boys, Loneliness, Thought, Tormented, Worry

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