"The importance and influence of books on me has been cumulative: the result of hearing and reading lots of stories about interesting people and places"
About this Quote
The phrase "hearing and reading" quietly widens the gate. It nods to storytelling as both private (books) and social (being told stories), which is a subtle way of refusing the elitist idea that literacy is the only path to being shaped by narrative. For a celebrity, that’s shrewd cultural positioning: it aligns her with everyday ways people absorb meaning while still giving books the starring role. She’s not selling a single title; she’s endorsing a practice.
"Interesting people and places" is doing more work than it seems. It’s an appeal to curiosity, not self-improvement. She’s implying that what books gave her is range: access to lives and landscapes beyond her immediate world. The subtext is portability and escape, but also preparation. For someone whose public identity is constantly read and rewritten by others, claiming the steady accumulation of stories reads like staking out a private interior life - one built gradually, on her terms.
Contextually, the quote fits a modern celebrity literacy script: not preachy, not precious, just a grounded account of how culture actually lands - drip by drip, story by story.
Quote Details
| Topic | Book |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Brown, Louise. (2026, January 18). The importance and influence of books on me has been cumulative: the result of hearing and reading lots of stories about interesting people and places. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-importance-and-influence-of-books-on-me-has-13424/
Chicago Style
Brown, Louise. "The importance and influence of books on me has been cumulative: the result of hearing and reading lots of stories about interesting people and places." FixQuotes. January 18, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-importance-and-influence-of-books-on-me-has-13424/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The importance and influence of books on me has been cumulative: the result of hearing and reading lots of stories about interesting people and places." FixQuotes, 18 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-importance-and-influence-of-books-on-me-has-13424/. Accessed 6 Feb. 2026.





