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“The audience had run to beards and magenta shirts and original ways of arranging its neckwear; and not content with the ravages produced in its over-excitable nervous system by the remorseless workings of its critical intelligence, it had sat through a film of Japanese life called 'Yes,' made by a Norwegian film company in 1915 with Japanese actors, which lasted an hour and three-quarters and contained twelve close-ups of water-lilies lying perfectly still on a scummy pond and four suicides, all done extremely slowly.”
― Cold Comfort Farm
― Cold Comfort Farm
“At night all cats are grey.”
― Keep the Aspidistra Flying
― Keep the Aspidistra Flying
“Listening is the most dangerous thing of all, listening means knowing, finding out about something and knowing what’s going on, our ears don’t have lids that can instinctively close against the words uttered, they can’t hide from what they sense they’re about to hear, it’s always too late.”
― A Heart So White
― A Heart So White
“When people ask me whether I am a spy –‘are you now, or have you ever been?’ –I am tempted to reply with a hearty –‘Yes, and since the age of five.’ For a state of watchfulness must surely be the first requisite of a writer, as it is of a secret agent. A writer, like a spy, must prey upon his neighbours; like a spy he is dependent on those whom he deceives; like a spy he must somehow contrive to keep a distance from his own feelings and by doing so conjure up a package that will meet with the approval of his masters. Like a spy, he is not merely an outsider, but implicitly a subversive..”
―
―
“When a man invents an image that he wants to propagate, that he may even want to substitute for himself, he starts by experimenting, making mistakes, sketching out freaks and other non-viable monsters that he has to tear up unless they disintegrate of their own accord. But the operative image is the one that's left after the person dies or withdraws from the world, as in the case of Socrates, Christ, Saladin, Saint-Just and so on. They succeeded in projecting an image around themselves and into the future. It doesn't matter whether or not the image corresponds to what they were really like: they managed to wrest a powerful image from that reality.”
― Prisoner of Love
― Prisoner of Love
Patricia Highsmith
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— last activity Aug 18, 2024 08:00AM
Long live the queen of psychological crime thrillers!
Goodreads Librarians Group
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Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra ...more
Completists' Club
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— last activity Mar 25, 2026 12:59PM
A group for those attempting to complete, or who have completed, the canons of their favourite writers. Share your canon-wide knowledge and opinion wi ...more
Bright Young Things
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— last activity Apr 24, 2026 11:39AM
...the perfect place for you to discuss your favourite authors from the early 20th Century. In the years from 1900 to 1945 the world of literature w ...more
English Mysteries Club
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— last activity Apr 29, 2026 12:37PM
Do you love mysteries written in the "English" style? Why not come and join us? We are an established group of mystery readers, which has just re-laun ...more
J.’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at J.’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
3,180 books
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3,086 books
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1,727 friends
1,245 books
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5,000 friends
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52 friends
15,744 books
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1,445 friends
6,407 books
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1,392 friends
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157 friends
1,780 books
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1,095 friends
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