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I began reading in French. I didn't read in English until high school.
Laila Lalami / Novelist
High School
Reading
School
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In some ways, I think it's the closest that we come to the truth — is in the form of fiction.
Laila Lalami / Novelist
Fiction
Thinking
Way
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Thing that was very different for me is that an American child's reading is filled with Americans.
Laila Lalami / Novelist
Children
Different
Reading
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There is a insularity within American fiction even for adults. It's very tough for books in translation in the US.
Laila Lalami / Novelist
Adults
Book
Fiction
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Immigration, a lexicon. You're a 'migrant' when you're very poor; 'immigrant' when you're not so poor; and 'expat' when you're rich.
Laila Lalami / Novelist
Immigration
Lexicon
Migrants
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I love James Baldwin essays, but also his novels. I recently read "Another Country." I couldn't believe how ahead of his time he was.
Laila Lalami / Novelist
Believe
Country
Novel
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The universe had an odd sense of fairness; it took away things one did not want to give up, and then gave things one did not ask for.
Laila Lalami / Novelist
Fairness
Giving Up
Want
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No one wrote better about the sin of pride, the corruption of power and the redemption of love. I will miss you, Gabriel García Márquez.
Laila Lalami / Novelist
Gabriel
Missing
Pride
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Historical novels, in particular, allow us to relive the past without the neatness of history, and with all the complexity of the present.
Laila Lalami / Novelist
Complexity
Historical Novels
Past
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There are writers I return to no matter what I'm working on, writers like the South African J.M. Coetzee. He has an ability to make you feel that he is writing for you alone.
Laila Lalami / Novelist
Matter
Return
Writing
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A name is precious; it carries inside it a language, a history, a set of traditions, a particular way of looking at the world. Losing it meant losing my ties to all those things too.
Laila Lalami / Novelist
Names
Ties
Way
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The ones that were relevant while I wrote my book were books like "Beloved" by Toni Morrison, which is based on a historical fact, "Ragtime" by E.L. Doctorow, and "True History of the Kelly Gang" by Peter Carey.
Laila Lalami / Novelist
Book
Facts
Historical
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I [read] "The Book of Unknown Americans," which is by a friend of mine, Cristina Henriquez, and is about two Latino, immigrant families who live in Delaware. I'm interested in reading things from different perspectives.
Laila Lalami / Novelist
Book
Reading
Two
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Few [books] get translated and the ones that do have trouble making it into the mainstream. It's more likely that Americans will discover another culture through an American writer rather read a writer from that culture.
Laila Lalami / Novelist
Book
Culture
Trouble
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Every book leaves its mark on you. It might leave you hungry for that kind of book or you may be satiated, and you're eager to read something else. It might send you in a completely different direction. I love that about reading.
Laila Lalami / Novelist
Book
Different
Reading
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I also read a lot of nonfiction. I just got "Nixonland" by Rick Perlstein. I felt like what with everything that is going on with the president [Donald trump] and the parallels with [Richard] Nixon's presidency, I needed to know more about the man.
Laila Lalami / Novelist
Men
Nonfiction
President
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When I was a child, I was reading books filled with people different from me, all French, all foreigners. There was a sense of disconnect between my sense of imagination and the world around me, which I don't think is common for Americans. It forces you to learn to look at the world through other people's eyes.
Laila Lalami / Novelist
Book
Children
Reading
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I read "The Conquest of New Spain" by Bernal Diz Del Castillo, which I recommend to a lot of people. He was an eyewitness of [Hernando] Cortez's conquest of Mexico. It's at once very brutal and at times very plodding. It tells what they did everyday, so days can go by and nothing happens. Then all of the sudden they are torturing and doing all these dark things.
Laila Lalami / Novelist
Dark
Everyday
People
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