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Tag Archives: fiction
“I have ever hated all nations, professions, and communities, and all my love is toward individuals.” — Jonathan Swift
“When a man of true Genius appears in the World, you may know him by this infallible Sign, that all the Dunces are in Conspiracy against him.” — Jonathan Swift I don’t have much time to read for pleasure these … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Alexander Pope, Charlotte Bronte, Dr. Samuel Johnson, fiction, Gulliver's Travels, H.L. Mencken, Ireland, Irish poetry, Jane Eyre, Jonathan Swift, Michael Schmidt, poetry, Rebecca West, Robert Graves, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, T.S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats
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“Well, if I can’t be happy, I can be useful, perhaps.” — Louisa May Alcott
“November is the most disagreeable month in the whole year,” said Meg, standing at the window one dull afternoon, looking out at the frostbitten garden. “That’s the reason I was born in it,” observed Jo pensively, quite unconscious of the … Continue reading
“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” — Stephen King
It’s his birthday today. I think he’s written two masterpieces. The Stand and 11/22/63 (a book Don DeLillo has been trying – and failing – to write for 40 years #sorrynotsorry). I was a rabid fan in high school, college, … Continue reading
“You can understand a lot about yourself by working out which fairytale you use to present your world to yourself in.” — A.S. Byatt
I didn’t mark the passing of A.S. Byatt last year when it happened. I was overwhelmed with work at the time. But I did take a moment … a very still and silent moment … to reflect on her, on … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged A.S. Byatt, fiction, George Eliot, nonfiction, Possession
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“A ‘smartcracker’ they called me, and that makes me sick and unhappy.” — Dorothy Parker
“Oh, good Lord, what’s the matter with women, anyway?” “Please don’t call me ‘women,’” she said. “I’m sorry, darling,” he said. “I didn’t mean to use bad words.” — Dorothy Parker, “Dusk Before Fireworks” It’s her birthday today. I cannot … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Dorothy Parker, E.M. Forster, Edna St. Vincent Millay, fiction, Oscar Wilde, poetry
18 Comments
On Liz Riggs’ debut novel Lo Fi
Over on my Substack I wrote about Lo Fi, a novel I fell madly in love with. It evoked my own life. My response was so self-centered. But a good book can do that. I highly recommend it: Lo Fi, … Continue reading
R.I.P. Edna O’Brien
We knew this day was coming but still … it’s a sad one. A connecting thread is lost, with the 20th century, with my father, who introduced me to O’Brien’s work (and not just her work but what she meant, … Continue reading
Posted in Books, RIP, writers
Tagged Edna O'Brien, fiction, Ireland, The Country Girls
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“All my work is about uncovering, especially uncovering of voices that speak without governance, or that speak without being heard.” — Seamus Deane
“So broken was my father’s family, that it felt to me like a catastrophe you could live with only if you kept it quiet, let it die down of its own accord like a dangerous fire … I felt we … Continue reading