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“Books say: She did this because. Life says: She did this. Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren't. I'm not surprised some people prefer books. Books make sense of life. The only problem is that the lives they make sense of are other people's lives, never your own.”
― Flaubert's Parrot
― Flaubert's Parrot
“Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous.”
― A Treatise of Human Nature
― A Treatise of Human Nature
“What did Nabokov and Joyce have in common, apart from the poor teeth and the great prose? Exile, and decades of near pauperism. A compulsive tendency to overtip. An uxoriousness that their wives deservedly inspired. More than that, they both lived their lives 'beautifully'--not in any Jamesian sense (where, besides, ferocious solvency would have been a prerequisite), but in the droll fortitude of their perseverance. They got the work done, with style.”
― Experience
― Experience
“Art is not a mirror held up to reality
but a hammer with which to shape it.”
―
but a hammer with which to shape it.”
―
“How do you turn catastrophe into art? Nowadays the process is automatic. A nuclear plant explodes? We'll have a play on the London stage within a year. A President is assissinated? You can have the book or the film or the filmed book or booked film. War? Send in the novelists. A series of gruesome murders? Listen for the tramp of the poets. We have to understand it, of course, this catastrophe; to understand it, we have to imagine it, so we need the imaginative arts. But we also need to justify it and forgive it, this catastrophe, however minimally. Why did it happen, this mad act of Nature, this crazed human moment? Well, at least it produced art. Perhaps, in the end, that's what catastrophe is for.”
― A History of the World in 10½ Chapters
― A History of the World in 10½ Chapters
The Kindred Spirits
— 300 members
— last activity Sep 23, 2025 07:28AM
Place to meet and talk about anything.
On Paths Unknown
— 500 members
— last activity Sep 24, 2026 10:40AM
"On paths unknown, we tread with wonder. Through a glass darkly, to brave new worlds and beyond we go." We seek to explore and do critical reading fro ...more
Completists' Club
— 554 members
— 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
Foucault's Pendulum
— 69 members
— last activity Nov 13, 2021 03:31AM
We're starting off by reading Umberto Eco's novel, Foucalt's Pendulum--and who knows where that might lead us? ...more
The Short Story Club
— 603 members
— last activity 5 hours, 58 min ago
We read and discuss one short story a week. Authors are welcome, but it's NOT a group to promote one's own work. The first post of each week's discu ...more
Jonfaith’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Jonfaith’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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