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“Facilis descensus Averno:
Noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
Sed revocare gradium superasque evadere ad auras,
Hoc opus, hic labor est.
(The gates of Hell are open night and day;
Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:
But to return, and view the cheerful skies,
In this task and mighty labor lies.)”
― The Aeneid
Noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
Sed revocare gradium superasque evadere ad auras,
Hoc opus, hic labor est.
(The gates of Hell are open night and day;
Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:
But to return, and view the cheerful skies,
In this task and mighty labor lies.)”
― The Aeneid
“Eros shook my mind like a mountain wind falling on oak trees.”
― If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho
― If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho
“But I will not die. I cannot. I will never go down among the shadows under Albunea to see Aeneas tall among the warriors, gleaming in bronze. I will not speak to Creusa of Troy, as I once thought I might, or Dido of Carthage, proud and silent, still bearing the great sword wound in her breast. They lived and died as women do and as the poet sang them. But he did not sing me enough life to die. He only gave me immortality.”
― Lavinia
― Lavinia
“What shall I do? When I pick up the broom he leaves the room. When I fuss with kindling he runs for the yard. Then he’s back, and we hug for a long time. In his low-to-the-ground chest I can hear his heart slowing down. Then I rub his shoulders and kiss his feet and fondle his long hound ears. Benny, I say, don’t worry. I also know the way the old life haunts the new.”
― Dog Songs
― Dog Songs
“I remember the foreigners from the other side of the world, sailing up the Tiber into a country they knew nothing of: their envoy came to my father's house, explained that he was a Trojan, and made polite speeches in fluent Latin. Now how can that be? Do we all know all the languages? That can be true only of the dead, whose land lies under all the other lands. How is it that you understand me, who lived twenty-five or thirty years ago? Do you know Latin?
But then I think no, it has nothing to do with being dead, it;s not death that allows us to understand one another, but poetry.”
― Lavinia
But then I think no, it has nothing to do with being dead, it;s not death that allows us to understand one another, but poetry.”
― Lavinia
Emily’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Emily’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
316 books
|
6 friends
601 books
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27 friends
110 books
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10 friends
18 books
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8 friends
8,330 books
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175 friends
47 books
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2 friends
543 books
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21 friends
617 books
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20 friends
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