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Erik
https://www.goodreads.com/eriksilkensen
to-read
(195)
currently-reading (5)
read (515)
did-not-finish (0)
reference (36)
novel (205)
short-stories (123)
poetry (69)
interviews (52)
currently-reading (5)
read (515)
did-not-finish (0)
reference (36)
novel (205)
short-stories (123)
poetry (69)
interviews (52)
periodicals
(52)
computer-science (33)
memoir (25)
philosophy (25)
writing (24)
essays (22)
french (19)
russian (18)
math (16)
computer-science (33)
memoir (25)
philosophy (25)
writing (24)
essays (22)
french (19)
russian (18)
math (16)
“Art, in a sense, is life brought to a standstill, rescued from time. The secret of making it is simple: discard everything that is good enough.”
― Burning the Days: Recollection
― Burning the Days: Recollection
“We believe that we can change the things around us in accordance with our desires—we believe it because otherwise we can see no favourable outcome. We do not think of the outcome which generally comes to pass and is also favourable: we do not succeed in changing things in accordance with our desires, but gradually our desires change. The situation that we hoped to change because it was intolerable becomes unimportant to us. We have failed to surmount the obstacle, as we were absolutely determined to do, but life has taken us round it, led us beyond it, and then if we turn round to gaze into the distance of the past, we can barely see it, so imperceptible has it become.”
― In Search of Lost Time
― In Search of Lost Time
“The enchantments of the past must always become the disenchantments of the future. But memory, a preservative, may intervene. The embalmer of original enchantments, it is the only human faculty that can outwit the advance of chronological time. Art, the embalmer of memory, is the only human vocation in which the time regained by memory can be permanently fixed.”
― Magic Lantern of Marcel Proust: A Critical Study of Remembrance of Things Past
― Magic Lantern of Marcel Proust: A Critical Study of Remembrance of Things Past
“I hope you understand that it is not the tooth of the saber-toothed tiger I want, it is the tiger. I don't care if it's a old toothless tiger or not, just so it's alive. I intend to start a zoo.”
― The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor
― The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor
“Week before last I went to Wesleyan and read “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” After it I went to one of the classes where I was asked questions. There were a couple of young teachers there and one of them, an earnest type, started asking the questions. “Miss O’Connor,” he said, “why was the Misfit’s hat black?” I said most countrymen in Georgia wore black hats. He looked pretty disappointed. Then he said, “Miss O’Connor, the Misfit represents Christ, does he not?” “He does not,” I said. He looked crushed. “Well, Miss O’Connor,” he said, “what is the significance of the Misfit’s hat?” I said it was to cover his head; and after that he left me alone. Anyway, that’s what’s happening to the teaching of literature.”
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Erik’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Erik’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
1,779 books
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894 friends
11,894 books
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715 friends
389 books
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6 friends
406 books
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60 friends
22 books
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4,749 friends
76 books
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56 friends
148 books
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219 friends
406 books
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34 friends
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