1,292 books
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Gregory Knapp
https://www.goodreads.com/gwknapper
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Gregory Knapp
is currently reading
bookshelves:
fiction,
20th-century,
american-lit,
cali,
italy,
la,
psychoanalysis,
suburbs,
jacobean-revenge-plays,
currently-reading
read in January 2015
“A crude way to put the whole thing is that our presence culture is, both develeopmentally and historically, adolescent. And since adolescence is acknowledged to be the single most stressful and frightening period of human development – the stage when adulthood we claim to crave begins to present itself as a real and narrowing system of responsibilities and limitation (taxes, death) and when we yearn inside for a return to the same childish oblivion we pretend to scorn – it’s not difficult to see why we as a culture are so susceptible to art and entertainment whose primary function is escape, i. e. fantasy, adrenaline, spectacle, romance, etc.”
― Consider the Lobster and Other Essays
― Consider the Lobster and Other Essays
“Because here's something else that's weird but true: in the day-to day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship—be it JC or Allah, be it YHWH or the Wiccan Mother Goddess, or the Four Noble Truths, or some inviolable set of ethical principles—is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you. On one level, we all know this stuff already. It's been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story. The whole trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness.”
― This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life
― This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life
“I said, smiling very wide and droogie: ‘Well, if it isn’t fat stinking billygoat Billyboy in poison. How art thou, thou globby bottle of cheap stinking chip-oil? Come and get one in the yarbles, if you have any yarbles, you eunuch jelly, thou.’ And then we started.”
― A Clockwork Orange
― A Clockwork Orange
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
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Victorians!
— 3763 members
— last activity 57 minutes ago
Some of the best books in the world were written and published in Great Britain between 1837 and 1901. What's not to love? Dickens, the Brontes, Co ...more
The Pickwick Club
— 386 members
— last activity Apr 04, 2020 10:42AM
Welcome to the Pickwick Club! This group is dedicated to reading, discussing, critiquing, and devouring the works of Charles Dickens.
Exploring Anthony Trollope
— 78 members
— last activity Jan 18, 2023 07:47AM
A place to learn about the author Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) and to share reading experiences of the author's works. I am astonished at Trollope's ...more
The 1700-1939 Book Club!
— 604 members
— last activity Nov 28, 2025 06:50PM
This group is for books written from 1700-1939*. I created this group because there are so many exciting and classic books written during this time. T ...more
The Importance of Reading Ernest
— 341 members
— last activity Dec 31, 2019 05:47AM
A book club for those who want to read and talk about Hemingway's work. We'll read a new novel or short story collection every month and talk about it ...more
Gregory’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Gregory’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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