The Chosen Ones Quotes

“Ulysses, which was an extremely difficult book by James Joyce. Every single other child in the class, when asked what they would like to do more of, chose creative writing.”
― Scarlett Thomas, The Chosen Ones

“The Great Library holds the blueprint for the whole universe. People from your world sometimes refer to it as “source code”, although it is in no way digital. It is much more fundamental and ancient than that. Every book in the library controls some aspect of reality. Section 04F concerns the Big Bang, for example. Section 03B is music theory. The numbers 20-29G deal with quantum physics. And 18 and 19G are relativity. We have dictionaries for every language ever spoken. It’s very important that the books are not disturbed. We look after them, read them, maintain them… It takes all our time. But looking after the Great Library is one of the most important jobs in the whole universe.”
― Scarlett Thomas, The Chosen Ones

“Authors can always be relied on to turn up late to their own launch party and then say embarrassing things, but they are a strangely valuable asset when it comes to promoting a publication. Their death, I find, is what adds most value to a book. I’m surprised publishers don’t use the technique more often.”
― Scarlett Thomas, The Chosen Ones

“Being a novelist meant she always anticipated the worst. It was her job to always think of dramatic things involving kidnaps and falling down mine-shafts and so on.”
― Scarlett Thomas, The Chosen Ones