to-read
(65)
currently-reading (3)
read (941)
did-not-finish (20)
audiobook (173)
bookbeat (60)
fantasy (55)
2025 (53)
classical-philology (49)
manga (44)
auf-deutsch (41)
in-english (37)
currently-reading (3)
read (941)
did-not-finish (20)
audiobook (173)
bookbeat (60)
fantasy (55)
2025 (53)
classical-philology (49)
manga (44)
auf-deutsch (41)
in-english (37)
wakacje-2011
(29)
muzyka (23)
art (19)
literatura-włoska (17)
romance (17)
2024 (14)
audible (14)
2026 (13)
antykwariat (13)
young-adult (12)
2023 (11)
wakacje-2012 (11)
muzyka (23)
art (19)
literatura-włoska (17)
romance (17)
2024 (14)
audible (14)
2026 (13)
antykwariat (13)
young-adult (12)
2023 (11)
wakacje-2012 (11)
“The so-called ‘psychotically depressed’ person who tries to kill herself doesn’t do so out of quote ‘hopelessness’ or any abstract conviction that life’s assets and debits do not square. And surely not because death seems suddenly appealing. The person in whom Its invisible agony reaches a certain unendurable level will kill herself the same way a trapped person will eventually jump from the window of a burning high-rise. Make no mistake about people who leap from burning windows. Their terror of falling from a great height is still just as great as it would be for you or me standing speculatively at the same window just checking out the view; i.e. the fear of falling remains a constant. The variable here is the other terror, the fire’s flames: when the flames get close enough, falling to death becomes the slightly less terrible of two terrors. It’s not desiring the fall; it’s terror of the flames. And yet nobody down on the sidewalk, looking up and yelling ‘Don’t!’ and ‘Hang on!’, can understand the jump. Not really. You’d have to have personally been trapped and felt flames to really understand a terror way beyond falling.”
―
―
“They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another's throats.
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself.”
― High Windows
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another's throats.
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself.”
― High Windows
“It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight.”
― Lolita
― Lolita
Classical music lovers
— 583 members
— last activity Dec 03, 2025 01:54AM
Our fast-growing classical music group is sometimes erudite - and maybe a little eccentric - but we aim never to be exclusive. Classical music is a g ...more
Literary Prizes
— 267 members
— last activity Jul 08, 2012 07:00AM
A place to discuss the Booker, the Pulitzer, the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Newbery, and/or any other literary awards.
Marta’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Marta’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Polls voted on by Marta
Lists liked by Marta























