February 2012
28 posts
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“To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a...”
– Victor Hugo (b. 1802)
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“The most important thing to remember is this: To be ready at any moment to give...”
– W.E.B. Du Bois, born in 1868
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“I am glad that I paid so little attention to good advice; had I abided by it I...”
– Edna St. Vincent Millay (b. 1892)
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“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are gone, either write things worth...”
– Carson McCullers (b. 1917)
“We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the...”
– Toni Morrison, celebrating a birthday today
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I am again leaving New Orleans. The city that...
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“Find what causes a commotion in your heart. Find a way to write about that.”
– Richard Ford
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“We are of opinion that instead of letting books grow moldy behind an iron...”
– Jules Verne, born on this day in 1828
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What has changed since the collapse of Jim Crow...
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“It is impossible to discourage the real writers—they don’t give a damn what you...”
– Sinclair Lewis (b. 1885)
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Sihem Bensedrine: Tunisia, One Year After the Arab... →
It doesn’t matter if this energy comes from below, as in the Occupy movement, or even if it is weak and not strategic. The Western system has become very lethargic; it needs to be renewed, and that’s what the young are trying to do.
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“Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave...”
– William S. Burroughs (b. 1914)
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In celebration of Paul Auster’s birthday today,...
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“A man’s errors are his portals of discovery.”
– James Joyce, born on this day in 1882
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On the train going across the Mississippi River,...
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“Revolutions are the periods of history when individuals count most.”
– Former PEN President Norman Mailer
January 2012
19 posts
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“The person who wants nothing, hopes for nothing, and fears nothing can never be...”
– Anton Chekhov, born in 1860
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“Put down everything that comes into your head and then you’re a writer. But an...”
– Colette, born on this day in 1873
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Virginia Woolf: How Should One Read a Book? →
Yet who reads to bring about an end, however desirable? Are there not some pursuits that we practice because they are good in themselves, and some pleasures that are final? And is not this among them?
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“Fiction is like a spider’s web, attached ever so slightly perhaps, but still...”
– Virginia Woolf (b. 1882)
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I was very happy to be asked to join this panel...
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“The English language is nobody’s special property. It is the property of...”
– Derek Walcott (b. 1930)
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“Man, being reasonable, must get drunk; the best of life is but intoxication.”
– Great advice from Lord Byron, born on this day in 1788
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He had been unhappy and hadn’t known it. He...
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“To be stupid, and selfish, and to have good health are the three requirements...”
– Julian Barnes (b. 1946)
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“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the...”
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“Books are funny little portable pieces of thought.”
– Former PEN President Susan Sontag, born on this day in 1933
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“Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close...”
– Molière, born on this day in 1622
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“If I were sufficiently romantic I suppose I’d have killed myself long ago...”
– John Dos Passos (b. 1896)
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“Writers have no real area of expertise. They are merely generalists with a...”
– Lorrie Moore, born on this day in 1957
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“A half-read book is a half-finished love affair.”
– David Mitchell
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“It is not clear that intelligence has any long-term survival value.”
– Stephen Hawking
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I know Stephen Dedalus better than my father. As...
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“Not all who wander are lost.”
– J.R.R. Tolkien
December 2011
13 posts
“I believe that people should write biographies only about people they love, or...”
– Penelope Fitzgerald (b. 1916)
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“Apparently I lack some particular perversion which today’s employer is seeking.”
– John Kennedy Toole, born on this day in 1937
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This book is definitely about a fractured...