“There were adventure stories supplied with cloths for mopping your brow, thrillers containing pressed leaves of soothing valerian to be sniffed when the suspense became too great, and books with stout locks sealed by the Atlantean censorship authorities ("Sale permitted, reading prohibited!"). One shop sold nothing but 'half' works that broke off in the middle because their author had died while writing them; another specialised in novels whose protagonists were insects. I also saw a Wolperting shop that sold nothing but books on chess and another patronised exclusively by dwarfs with blond beards, all of whom wore eye-shades.”
― The City of Dreaming Books
― The City of Dreaming Books
“I will quote one sentence from this text, namely, the one with which it ended. It was also the sentence which finally dissolved the writer’s block that had inhibited the author from starting work. I have since used it whenever I myself have been gripped by fear of the blank sheet in front of me. It is infallible, and its effect is always the same: the knot unravels and a stream of words gushes out on to the virgin paper. It acts like a magic spell and I sometimes fancy it really is one. But, even if it isn’t the work of a sorcerer, it is certainly the most brilliant sentence any writer has ever devised. It runs: ‘This is where my story begins.’”
― The City of Dreaming Books
― The City of Dreaming Books
“If the sky could dream, it would dream of dragons.”
― Fate's Edge
― Fate's Edge
“Life is too precious to be left to chance”
― The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear
― The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear
Iri’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Iri’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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