Shel
https://www.goodreads.com/shelbybower
“I think women rule the world and that no man has ever done anything that a woman either hasn't allowed him to do or encouraged him to do.”
―
―
“I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you might nudge the world a little or make a poem that children will speak for you when you are dead.”
― The Real Thing
― The Real Thing
“I can't go on, I'll go on.”
― I Can't Go On, I'll Go On: A Samuel Beckett Reader
― I Can't Go On, I'll Go On: A Samuel Beckett Reader
“...My father muttered something to me, and I responded with a mumbled "What". He shouted, "You heard me," thundered up from his chair, pulled his belt out of its loops, and inflicted a beating that seemed never to end. I curled my arms around my body as he stood over me like a titan and delivered the blows. This was the only incident of its kind in our family. My father was never physically abusive toward my mother or sister and he was never again physically extreme with me. However, this beating and his worsening tendency to rages directed at my mother - which I heard in fright through the thin walls of our home - made me resolve, with icy determination, that only the most formal relationship would exist between my father and me, and for perhaps thirty years, neither he nor I did anything to repair the rift.
The rest of my childhood, we hardly spoke; there was little he said to me that was not critical, and there was little I said back that was not terse or mumbled. When I graduated from high school, he offered to buy me a tuxedo. I refused because I had learned from him to reject all aid and assistance; he detested extravagance and pleaded with us not to give him gifts. I felt, through a convoluted logic, that in my refusal, I was being a good son. I wish now that I had let him buy me a tuxedo, that I had let him be a dad. Having cut myself off from him, and by association the rest of the family, I was incurring psychological debts that would come due years later in the guise of romantic misconnections and a wrongheaded quest for solitude.
I have heard it said that a complicated childhood can lead to a life in the arts. I tell you this story of my father and me to let you know I am qualified to be a comedian.”
― Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
The rest of my childhood, we hardly spoke; there was little he said to me that was not critical, and there was little I said back that was not terse or mumbled. When I graduated from high school, he offered to buy me a tuxedo. I refused because I had learned from him to reject all aid and assistance; he detested extravagance and pleaded with us not to give him gifts. I felt, through a convoluted logic, that in my refusal, I was being a good son. I wish now that I had let him buy me a tuxedo, that I had let him be a dad. Having cut myself off from him, and by association the rest of the family, I was incurring psychological debts that would come due years later in the guise of romantic misconnections and a wrongheaded quest for solitude.
I have heard it said that a complicated childhood can lead to a life in the arts. I tell you this story of my father and me to let you know I am qualified to be a comedian.”
― Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
fiction files redux
— 295 members
— last activity Oct 10, 2022 09:43AM
this is a literary love-in, baby . . . books, literature, fiction of all shapes and sizes, these things we discuss . . . make yourself at home, check ...more
Inner Workings
— 57 members
— last activity Jul 13, 2016 12:45AM
A place for essays, poetry, streaming and ranting. An offshoot of fiction files redux. "Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen t ...more
The Buried Masterpieces!
— 28 members
— last activity Dec 17, 2009 10:10AM
Dust of time settled a bit too heavily on a book that, in your opinion, is one of the greatest novels ever written, but that no one knows about becaus ...more
Q&A with Susie Bright
— 103 members
— last activity Sep 12, 2013 06:28AM
May 11 to The End of Time! "Fight Like Hell For The Living" was my six-word memoir. Now we can expand on yours, mine, and ours. I'd be pleased to t ...more
Shel’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Shel’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Polls voted on by Shel
Lists liked by Shel







































