#boo

Most adults, unlike most children, understand the difference between a book that will hold them spellbound for a rainy Sunday afternoon and a book that will put them in touch with a part of themselves they didn't even know existed. ↗

— Mark Haddon

#between #book #children #difference #even

From a good book, I want to be taken to the very edge. I want a glimpse into that outer darkness. ↗

— Mark Haddon

#darkness #edge #glimpse #good #good book

Children simply don't make the distinction; a book is either good or bad. And some of the books they think are good are very, very bad indeed. ↗

— Mark Haddon

#book #books #children #distinction #either

I started writing books for children because I could illustrate them myself and because, in my innocence, I thought they'd be easier. ↗

— Mark Haddon

#books #children #could #easier #i

If one book's done this well, you want to write another one that does just as well. There's that horror of the second novel that doesn't match up. ↗

— Mark Haddon

#book #does #done #horror #just

Jane Austen was writing about boring people with desperately limited lives. We forget this because we've seen too many of her books on screen. ↗

— Mark Haddon

#austen #because #books #boring #boring people

I've written 16 children's books and five unpublished novels. Some of the latter were breathtakingly bad. ↗

— Mark Haddon

#books #children #five #i #latter

My book has a very simple surface, but there are layers of irony and paradox all the way through it. ↗

— Mark Haddon

#irony #layers #paradox #simple #surface

The one thing you have to do if you write a book is put yourself in someone else's shoes. The reader's shoes. You've got to entertain them. ↗

— Mark Haddon

#else #entertain #got #one thing #put

Writing for children is bloody difficult; books for children are as complex as their adult counterparts, and they should therefore be accorded the same respect. ↗

— Mark Haddon

#adult #bloody #books #children #complex