“The job of the first eight pages is not to have the reader want to throw the book at theduring the first eight pages.”

—  David Foster Wallace

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The job of the first eight pages is not to have the reader want to throw the book at theduring the first eight pages." by David Foster Wallace?
David Foster Wallace photo
David Foster Wallace 185
American fiction writer and essayist 1962–2008

Related quotes

Jorge Luis Borges photo

“If the pages of this book contain some successful verse, the reader must excuse me the discourtesy of having usurped it first. Our nothingness differs little; it is a trivial and chance circumstance that you should be the reader of these exercises and I their author.”

Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, and a key figure in Spanish language literature

"To the Reader" ["A quien leyere"], preface to Fervor of Buenos Aires [Fervor de Buenos Aires] (1923)

Alan Shepard photo

“I just wanted to be the first one to fly for America, not because I'd end up in the pages of history books.”

Alan Shepard (1923–1998) American astronaut

Marcia Dunn, Associated Press Aerospace Writer (May 1, 1991) "Ex-Astronaut Recalls Thrill of 1st U.S. Space Flight", The Deseret News, p. A1.

Mickey Spillane photo

“Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end. If it's a letdown, they won't buy anymore. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book.”

Mickey Spillane (1918–2006) American writer

Writers on Writing interview (1986)

David Cross photo

“The Bible is the funniest book I have ever read. It's so funny! Right in the first six pages, it's funny!”

David Cross (1964) American comedian, writer and actor

Shut Up, You Fucking Baby

John C. Maxwell photo

“Most people who decide to grow personally find their first mentors in the pages of books.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

Source: The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential

“The hours between eight in the evening and one or two in the morning have always been my magic hours. Against the blue candlewick bedspread the white pages of my open book, illuminated by a circle of lamplight, were the gateway to another world.”

Diane Setterfield book The Thirteenth Tale

Source: The Thirteenth Tale

Cornelia Funke photo

“Stories never really end… even if the books like to pretend they do. Stories always go on. They don't end on the last page, any more than they begin on the first page.”

Cornelia Funke Inkheart trilogy

Source: Inkspell

Dante Alighieri photo

“In that book which is
My memory…
On the first page
That is the chapter when
I first met you
Appear the words…
Here begins a new life.”

Dante Alighieri book Vita Nuova

Source: La Vita Nuova (1293), Chapter I, opening lines (as reported in The 100 Best Love Poems of All Time by Leslie Pockell)

Related topics