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" I just write the books that I think I would want to read. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

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" There are so many people who are so much better qualified to write about politics than I am. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

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

Curtis Sittenfeld

" Personally, I have never wished I were a male novelist. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" I feel like if you read something, and it makes you so curious about a topic that you then go read something else, that's exciting. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" I always wrote from a very young age, literally from the time I learned how to read and write. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" It's never that hard for me to imagine what it must feel like to be someone else, whether it's an American teenage girl or a Japanese octogenarian man. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" I'm aware more than I was before I had books published that any review is a bit arbitrary - it's not really, say, 'The New York Times' that's authoritatively weighing in on the quality of a book, though it seems this way to the public. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" A lot of times, in a store, clothes appear strange to me, their cuts or flourishes arbitrary. Why is this look stylish now? How long will it be stylish for? It's slightly embarrassing to admit this - because, as a novelist, I'm supposed to be observant - but I'm flummoxed by the way other women dress. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" I don't think everyone is equally haunted by high school, but I also don't think it's unusual to be. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" Well, I think in my first two novels, both the characters are pretty neurotic, which I would say that I am. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" In general, I believe it's fine to have impassioned conversations about Gwyneth Paltrow, but those of us who do so should admit it's a recreational activity and not a moral referendum. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" Of course I know my characters are unlikable sometimes or have prejudices. It's not as if I'm thinking they're so endearing all the time. I guess it's much more interesting to me to write someone who is a combination of good and bad qualities because that's what people are like in real life. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" There are always interesting, innovative, dynamic stories being written and being published. They're not always being prominently published, but they're being published. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" I should probably be careful admitting this, but sometimes, when my characters are having a disagreement, it's a disagreement I'm having with myself. I can see both sides of the argument. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" I never write something and consciously embed political commentary or any other kind of commentary. I just try to get the characters into a room or out of a room, or onto the plane, or through the grocery store. The political stuff, the class stuff, the gender stuff, is in the air, it's in their interactions, because it's there for all of us. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

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

Curtis Sittenfeld

" In some ways I think it would be very dignified if I went away for twenty years and then wrote my fourth book. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" Sometimes, there can be a slightly condescending assumption that anything unlikable about a female character is a mistake, as if they're a contestant in a beauty pageant and have to seem charming and upbeat all the time. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" I enjoy reading tips about how to be more organized, and I rarely implement them. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" I don't think it's shameful to admit that some days your time can be better spent reading than writing. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

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

Curtis Sittenfeld

" I'm able to separate fiction and reality. I guess it remains to be seen if other people are. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" Well, I think that if you sincerely try to imagine what life is like for another person - not in a mocking way, not in a satirical way, but in a sincere, compassionate way - I don't think that's exploitive. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" I have this theory that the likeability question comes up so much more with female characters created by female authors than it does with male characters and male authors. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" I think there are people who think 'high school was the peak of my life,' and there are people who think it was dreadful, and then, I think most people are somewhere in between. I do think that it's normal to experience strong emotions during that time, and I think those emotions stay with you. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" High school is very intense for everyone. But at a boarding school, because you're there 24 hours a day, everything gets magnified. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" I grew up in Cincinnati, the birthplace of the creamiest and most delicious ice cream with the hugest chocolate chips. Graeter's used to be available only regionally, but an extravagant thing you could do was overnight-ship six pints to another state, in dry ice. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" I don't think I anticipated supporting myself as a writer... I expected I would have to be a teacher or a journalist, that I wouldn't just write full time. It's such a part of my life, and in some ways, it's a very unromantic part of my life. It's almost, to me, like breathing. I don't think about whether I like it or not. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" Everything 'Atonement' does, it does incredibly well, including depicting characters of varying ages and temperaments and showing the intensity of early romantic love and connection and the very different intensity of haunting regret. "

Curtis Sittenfeld

" You know, the point of a novel - or to me, the point of a novel, the gift of a novel is to go really deeply inside people's lives and inside their personal experiences. "

Curtis Sittenfeld