As a kid, I sensed history going on all around me, but the basic thrust of it didn't move me.

quote by James Ellroy
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

I am a writer. I could not afford to take 15 months off from my writing career to play detective.

quote by James Ellroy
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Raymond Chandler once wrote that Dashiell Hammett gave murder back to the people who really committed it.

quote by James Ellroy
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

I like to be alone so I can write. But focus can hurt you. I don't want to be some stress casualty in early middle age.

quote by James Ellroy
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

I've been tremendously moved by a bunch of odd books. Ross McDonald is very important to me. I love the Lew Archer books.

quote by James Ellroy
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

As critical acclaim and response has built up, every interview I give is a chance to puncture the myth I've created about my work and refine it.

quote by James Ellroy
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Every one of my books is written from the viewpoint of cops, with the exception of my book Killer on the Road, which is written from the viewpoint of a serial killer.

quote by James Ellroy
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

The truth of the matter is, you lose a parent to murder when you're 10 years old, and in fact at the time of the murder you hate your lost parent, my mother in my case.

quote by James Ellroy
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

I was a WASP kid going to a high school that was 99 percent Jewish and I wanted attention and I wanted to make a spectacle of myself because I couldn't stand to be ignored.

quote by James Ellroy
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Noir is dead for me because historically, I think it's a simple view. I've taken it as far as it can go. I think I've expanded on it a great deal, taken it further than any other American novelist.

quote by James Ellroy
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!