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417 books
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442 voters
“One thing I knew about the novelist’s task: when in doubt, write; when empty, write; when afraid, write. Nothing is more impenetrable than the blank page. The blank page is the void, the absence of sense and feeling, the white light of literary death.”
― The Valley of Unknowing
― The Valley of Unknowing
“We drank our coffee the Russian way. That is to say we had vodka before it and vodka afterwards.”
― The Valley of Unknowing
― The Valley of Unknowing
“To rehearse imaginary conversations on paper is called literature. To do so out loud is called madness.”
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“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”
― Norwegian Wood
― Norwegian Wood
“All writers are insecure, the male ones especially. It's well known. Why else would they spend so much time on make-believe? They're only happy in their imaginary worlds, because that's where they're in charge - where they're God. Did you know that Hemingway's mother dressed him as a girl until he was six years old?"
I was not offended by Claudia's glib psychological theory. Like many glib psychological theories, it struck me as fundamentally correct.”
― The Valley of Unknowing
I was not offended by Claudia's glib psychological theory. Like many glib psychological theories, it struck me as fundamentally correct.”
― The Valley of Unknowing
Francis’s 2025 Year in Books
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