“I respect Billy Joel, but I'm not a guy who's gonna sit down and liste...” — Garth Risk Hallberg Quote

I respect Billy Joel, but I'm not a guy who's gonna sit down and listen to the entire 'Essential Billy Joel.'

Narnia, Middle-earth and New York were my three fantasy universes when I was a kid.

Reading was not just an escape or a Band-Aid; it was a deep form of feeling seen and recognized, and being able to see and recognize other kindred spirits. My dad was a writer, too, which also likely had something to do with that.

In graduate school, I was a student of E.L. Doctorow, and he had us read 'Moby-Dick' in a week.

I came to feel that, in addition to Imre Kertesz, Hungary has produced at least three contemporary novelists who deserve the Nobel: Peter Nadas, Peter Esterhazy and Laszlo Krasznahorkai.

I saw 'The Sting' about 35 times and 'Jeremiah Johnson' and 'Billy Jack' about 50 times.

It was hard for me to hear anyone saying they didn't like 'Billy Madison.'

I'm a huge fan of Billy Idol. I spiked my hair every day like him in 7th and 8th grade.

First time that I cried at a work of art was at a drum solo that I saw. A drummer named Winard Harper, part of the Billy Taylor Trio, gave back in - I would have been in high school - 2005 or something.

When my friends were listening to hip-hop or R&B, I was in the crib listening to Billy Joel and Michael Bolton, Luther Vandross, and Oscar Peterson.