Karin Slaughter quotes:

Reading develops cognitive skills. It trains our minds to think critically and to question what you are told. This is why dictators censor or ban books. It's why it was illegal to teach slaves to read. It's why girls in developing countries have acid thrown in their faces when they walk to school.

I taped the autopsy photos from Marilyn Monroe's death to my lunch box in fifth grade, and I would write stories in which someone inevitably died.

When you read a book, you are letting another person distract your thoughts and work your emotions. If they are adept, there's nothing better than turning off and getting lost.

I'm really boring. I get up early. I go to bed early. I don't smoke or drink. I mean, I'll eat a cupcake. I'm just not a crazy, stay-out-all-night sort of person. I love writing.

Prior to the Civil War, most libraries were either privately owned or housed in universities or churches.

I can clearly trace my passion for reading back to the Jonesboro, Georgia, library, where, for the first time in my life, I had access to what seemed like an unlimited supply of books.

It sounds pretentious to say I 'divide' my time, but when I am home, that usually means my house in Atlanta or my cabin in the North Georgia Mountains. The latter is where I do the majority of my writing.

Pushing the boundaries of polite society does not just fall under the purview of crime fiction authors.

Meg Gardiner is one of my favorite authors. She always delivers a terrific read. Phantom Instinct should go to the top of your 'to-be-read' pile.

Books give us insight into other people, other cultures. They make us laugh. They make us think. If they are really good, they make us believe that we are better for having read them. You don't read a book - you experience it. Every story opens up a new world.

It's hard because people often don't recognise shyness; they think it's just someone being rude. I have had to work to overcome that, especially if I'm meeting my readers at author events, because I don't want them to think I'm snooty or rude.

Being a Southerner, I'm interested in sex, violence, religion and all the things that make life interesting.

My typical morning involves some time on the treadmill, but obviously I skip that a lot. Mostly, I wake up, check my email, then get to work on the various interviews and questions and phone calls that come with being an author.

I read about violent things. I think what I get out of that is entertainment by learning about different things, and reading the genre and getting an understanding of motivations. But at the end of the day, it's still a book, and I can walk away.

I didn't want to spend the next thirty years writing about bad things happening in the same small town - not least of all because people would begin to wonder why anyone still lives there!

Everybody had something horrible happen to them at one time or another in their life.

When I was growing up, my stepmother's sister was the chief detective in one of the adjoining towns, so she piqued my interest in crime.

Alafair Burke understands the criminal mind. Long Gone is both an education and an entertainment of the first order. This is a very clever and very smart novel by a very clever and smart writer. The dialogue crackles, the plot is intriguing, and the pacing is perfect.

Like every Southern writer, I thought that I needed to write the next 'Gone With the Wind.'

Books are not like albums, where you can simply download and enjoy your favorite chapter and ignore the rest.

I read extensively about serial killers and all sorts of things people get up to.

The most enduring stories in literature generally have some kind of crime at their center, whether it's the bloody butchery of 'Hamlet,' the lecherous misanthropes of Dickens or the lone gunman from 'The Great Gatsby.'

If you wear them outside, they stop being pyjamas. I wear mine to the mail box, which is right in front of my house - that's my limit. Anything else is wrong.

I set the goal of getting a book contract by age thirty.

I busted my chin open trying to be Evel Knievel on my bike. When it happened, you could see straight through to the bone, I thought my dad was going to pass out. It left a scar that I still have now.

I have a few unusual fans, as you can imagine, so I try to protect the privacy of my home life.

As voters and taxpayers, we must demand that our local governments properly prioritize libraries. As citizens, we must invest in our library down the street so that the generations served by that library grow up to be adults who contribute not just to their local communities but to the world.

I am hard-pressed to find a successful writer who doesn't have a similar story to mine - transformation through the public library.

I always say 'thriller;' if they see you're a woman - and you're a blond woman - people assume you're writing about cats and romances where somebody has died.

I think a lot of people are curious about what makes people do what they do, and I guess my curiosity isn't hidden in any way.

As a Southerner, I love obstacles for my characters.

My dad believed in scaring us as we were growing up. Scaring the boys who wanted to date us more.

I think being a woman and writing frankly about violence has gotten me some attention, and as someone who wants people to read my books, I can't complain about that attention, but it does puzzle me that this is something reviewers focus on.

Keeping libraries open, giving access to all children to all books is vital to our nation's sovereignty.

I'm extremely introverted. I used to think it was shyness, but I got over that, so it must be door No. 2. It's still hard for me to be away from home much, and I have to make sure I get lots of time alone in my room when I'm touring.

I think crime fiction is a great way to talk about social issues, whether 'To Kill A Mockingbird' or 'The Lovely Bones;' violence is a way to open up that information you want to get out to the reader.

If I wasn't a writer, I would probably be a watchmaker. I like putting puzzles together, and that is what a watch is, figuring out how all the gears and everything else works together. I'm patient and good at focusing on a single task.

I love puns. I've been known to turn the car around just to take advantage of a good pun situation. It really is the highest form of humor.

Reading is power. Reading is life.

People forget that writers start off being readers. We all love it when we find a terrific read, and we want to let people know about it.

I think that characters who are nice all the time and who you sympathize with can get really boring.

I never felt isolated; I just liked being alone. I think that some people are good at being alone, and some people aren't, and as a child, I really liked it.

[On men:] ... you never know what they're like until you get them home and take them out of their packages.

A lot of men just don't read. They don't read fiction at all.

A lot of novels use crime as a stepping stone to talk about greater issues. So I just think of myself as a writer.

Being a Southerner, Im interested in sex, violence, religion and all the things that make life interesting.

Even Gone With the Wind had a shocking, cold-blooded murder.

Everyone had a reason for everything they did, even if that reason was sometimes stupidity.

I grew up reading crime fiction and, especially in the '80s, women were just there to be saved or screwed.

I never felt isolated; I just liked being alone. I think that some people are good at being alone, and some people arent, and as a child, I really liked it.

I think a lot of guys who are on the internet a lot, they're kind of anesthetized to some of the violent language and all that because they see it all the time.

I think that people do things for a reason - that we have mental illness, that we have genetic wiring that can get triggered by certain environmental factors.

If you're a smart guy, you should really try to find out what women are thinking. I mean, we are 51 percent of the population.

I'm not somebody who believes in evil.

I'm sold as a literary writer in Holland; I'm sold as crime fiction in England. I think of it as just literature.

I've always been drawn to historical fiction.

Like every Southern writer, I thought that I needed to write the next Gone With the Wind.

Long Gone is the type of book that should come with a warning. Itâ??s a compulsively readable, highly addictive story. The ending will leave you breathless.

People just make stupid mistakes. And they keep making them and keep making them, and suddenly they can't dig themselves out.

Reading is not just an escape. It is access to a better way of life.

sexual predators were like cockroaches. For every one you saw, there were twenty more hiding behind the walls.

Talking of the local Sheriff, Jake Valentine, tall and skinny and his wife Myra, "She was a short woman, maybe five feet tall in her socks, the top of her head not quite reaching Jake's chest. What she lacked in height she made up for in girth. Jeffrey guessed she was at least a hundred pounds overweight. Standing side by side, the Valentines looked like the living embodiment of the number ten.

Ultimately, I'm in control of what's going on in the books, so I can back off, if it's scaring me too much.

Usually, guys, when something bad happens, they punish someone else.

When a woman creates an unlikable character, a lot of people think it's a mistake.

You can only make decisions with the information you have at the time

You didn't realize what was passing you by until you slowed down a little bit to get a better look.

You can take my heart, but I can't let you take my dog.