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“In the library of the observatory in Ondrejov, above Prague, I once found a catalogue of stars that astounded me. It had hundreds of pages with tables of stars that had been observed and confirmed to exist. Towards the end there was a table of stars thought to have been observed but confirmed to not exist. But to my astonishment, at the back of the volume I found a list of stars which had never been observed and did not exist.
Perhaps the most amazing thing about the universe is that we could create an infinite catalogue of things, worlds and beings that no one has seen and which do not exist. Each story in the realm of fiction is a small part of that catalogue.”
― Stjärnvägar: En bok om kosmos
Perhaps the most amazing thing about the universe is that we could create an infinite catalogue of things, worlds and beings that no one has seen and which do not exist. Each story in the realm of fiction is a small part of that catalogue.”
― Stjärnvägar: En bok om kosmos
“Life is beautiful and life is stupid. This is, in fact, widely regarded as a universal rule not less inviolable than the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the Uncertainty Principle, and No Post on Sundays. As long as you keep that in mind, and never give more weight to one than the other, the history of the galaxy is a simple tune with lyrics flashed on-screen and a helpful, friendly bouncing disco ball of all-annihilating flames to help you follow along.”
― Space Opera
― Space Opera
“The honeyed sweetness of Mengele, of his words and of his smile, which he hoped would endow him with some resemblance to the Angel of Death, is the genuine, imbecile expression of every kind of fascination with evil; it is the expression featured in every demi-culture that expects the shoddy junk of the shadows to make amends for its own paltriness. The prohibited act, often as trite as throwing rubbish out of the window, is no less obtuse just because it torments or tortures. The Gorgon, said Joseph Roth about Nazism, is banal. Mengele's victims are characters in a tragedy, but Mengele himself is a figure in a farrago of gibberish.”
― Danube: A Sentimental Journey from the Source to the Black Sea
― Danube: A Sentimental Journey from the Source to the Black Sea
“Nobody was really surprised when it happened, not really, not on the subconscious level where savage things grow.”
― Carrie
― Carrie
“What's your name?" Oedipa said. "Winthrop Tremaine," replied the spirited entrepreneur, "Winner, for short. Listen, now we're getting up an arrangement with one of the big ready-to-wear outfits in L.A. to see how SS uniforms go for the fall. We're working it in with the back-to-school campaign, lot of 37 longs, you know, teenage kid sizes. Next season we may go all the way and get out a modified version for the ladies. How would that strike you?""I'll let you know," Oedipa said. "I'll keep you in mind." She left, wondering if she should've called him something, or tried to hit him with any of a dozen surplus, heavy, blunt objects in easy reach. There had been no witnesses. Why hadn't she?”
― The Crying of Lot 49
― The Crying of Lot 49
500 Great Books By Women
— 1615 members
— last activity Sep 01, 2025 05:18AM
500 Great Books By Women A Reader's Guide to the Worlds of Women's Writing Be sure to check out the bookshelf and see if you've reviewed any of the ...more
Nobel Prize Winners
— 655 members
— last activity Jun 01, 2025 01:41PM
From the sublime to the abstruse, from the bestsellers to the rightly unknown. To read the winners of the Nobel Prize in literature is a roller coaste ...more
Divine Comedy + Decameron
— 266 members
— last activity Nov 07, 2020 01:07PM
This group is for those interested in reading either or both Dante's Divine Comedy or Boccaccio's Decameron in 2014. Each read will be non-concurrent ...more
The Nobel Prize in Literature
— 407 members
— last activity Jun 23, 2024 04:33AM
Ah, the Nobel Prize! The decision of a jury of aristocratic Swedes who, since 1901, have awarded the prize to seven of their countrymen and one of the ...more
Sweden
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— last activity Nov 06, 2025 07:57AM
This is a group for Swedes on Goodreads or anyone interested in Sweden and Swedish literature. Här pratar vi svenska böcker eller pratar om böcker, li ...more
Bjorn’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Bjorn’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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