I read of the Kalamazoo girl who killed herself after reading the book. I am not at all surprised. She lived in Kalamazoo, for one thing, and then she read the book.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I don't think I'll ever lose the feeling that I had when I read 'To Kill a Mockingbird' - Harper Lee was going back into her childhood. I grew up in a real small town - Lee's was in the South, mine the Northwest - but small towns have a lot in common. There was such a revelation in knowing that a story could be told like that.
I always know exactly where my stories take place, which gives me something certain so I can use my imagination for the other stuff. I worry though, who wants to keep reading stories about Kalamazoo?
Many women have told me they remember where they were when they read the book, and how they felt suddenly that what they really thought or felt about things made sense.
I really hate those books where the murderer turns out to be somebody you never heard of who pops up in the last chapter.
Oh, I think every author is inspired by all of the books that she reads.
I think there are readers out there and I don't think the book is dead. And more importantly I don't think readers have to choose between literary and commercial fiction.
When I read 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' I was so struck by the universality of small towns.
I didn't write the book to sell the book, but to tell my experiences.
Nobody has ever written as many enjoyable, fun-to-read crime novels as Agatha Christie. It's all about the storytelling and the pleasure of the reader. She doesn't want to be deep or highbrow.
No one ever committed suicide while reading a good book, but many have tried while trying to write one.