Sign in with Facebook
1,574 books
—
241 voters
to-read
(2097)
currently-reading (2)
read (950)
ficciones (274)
history (160)
criticism (140)
war (136)
hearts-laid-bare (127)
historiophantasmagoria (119)
men-of-letters (107)
to-read-history (105)
shouldreread (102)
currently-reading (2)
read (950)
ficciones (274)
history (160)
criticism (140)
war (136)
hearts-laid-bare (127)
historiophantasmagoria (119)
men-of-letters (107)
to-read-history (105)
shouldreread (102)
favorites
(95)
americans (93)
memoir (87)
essays (86)
slavic (78)
dandies (73)
travels (71)
poetry (62)
westward-ho (61)
massacres (60)
photography (50)
bagatelle (47)
americans (93)
memoir (87)
essays (86)
slavic (78)
dandies (73)
travels (71)
poetry (62)
westward-ho (61)
massacres (60)
photography (50)
bagatelle (47)
“...and I reminded myself that the reproach of intellectualism is often directed at the most sensitive natures, those most ardently alive, those obliged by their frailty or their excess of strength constantly to resort to the arduous disciplines of the mind.”
―
―
“What did Nabokov and Joyce have in common, apart from the poor teeth and the great prose? Exile, and decades of near pauperism. A compulsive tendency to overtip. An uxoriousness that their wives deservedly inspired. More than that, they both lived their lives 'beautifully'--not in any Jamesian sense (where, besides, ferocious solvency would have been a prerequisite), but in the droll fortitude of their perseverance. They got the work done, with style.”
― Experience
― Experience
“But we had with us, to keep and to care for, more than five hundred bruised bodies of men- men made in the image of God, marred by the hand of man and must we say in the name of God? And where is the reckoning for such things? And who is answerable? One might almost shrink from the sound of his own voice, which had launched into the palpitating air words of order- do we call it? - fraught with such ruin. Was it God's command we heard or His forgiveness we must forever implore?”
―
―
“Above my cradle loomed the bookcase where/ Latin ashes and the dust of Greece/ mingled with novels, history, and verse/ in one dark Babel. I was folio-high/ when I first heard the voices.”
―
―
“But my life, oh, my life, had been a constant search for an enormous dream in which my fellow creatures and animals, plants, chimeras, stars, and minerals were in a pre-established harmony, a dream that is forgotten because it must be forgotten, and is sought desperately, and only sporadically does one find its tragic fragments in the warmth of a person, in some specific situation, a glance - in memory too, of course, in some specific pain, some moment. I loved that harmony with a passion; I loved it in voices, voices. And then, instead of harmony, there was nothing but scraps and tatters. And perhaps that alone is what it means to be a poet.”
―
―
Eric’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Eric’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
23,137 books
|
256 friends
2,053 books
|
328 friends
10,457 books
|
195 friends
5,386 books
|
4,874 friends
5,889 books
|
454 friends
525 books
|
16 friends
1,316 books
|
159 friends
269 books
|
6 friends
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Eric
Lists liked by Eric
