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William2
https://www.goodreads.com/williamtwo
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William2
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Reading for the 2nd time
William2 said:
"
James McBride is a wonderful writer. But everybody has their models. I am reminded very much reading this novel of the stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer, both the early phantasmagoric stories and the later pogrom tales.McBride tells a story here that ...more "
William2
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history,
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spirituality,
christianity,
religion,
psychology,
currently-reading
William2 said:
"
Oliver Sacks mentions this work in his book Hallucinations for its depiction of groups experiencing mass delusions. I do not know if Arthur Miller read this when working on his play The Crucible, but I wouldn’t be surprised.Chapter 3 is unreadable. S ...more "
“[T]here is nothing higher and stronger and more wholesome and good for life in the future than some good memory, especially a memory of childhood, of home.”
― The Brothers Karamazov
― The Brothers Karamazov
“A writer’s life is half ambition and half anxiety, and there has to be both. It is no good writing a novel and feeling fine, and it is no good writing a whole novel feeling miserable. It has to be both, that mixture of anxiety and ambition, and you get that with every novel, but more so when you write about these epics of human suffering. I felt that just as much when I wrote about the Gulag. Every writer knows what that is. The process goes… you have to think: ‘This novel I am writing is no good.’ Then you have to think: ‘All my novels are no good.’ And then, when you reach that point, you can begin.”
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“I find it’s more fun to write about something that you don’t know completely and that you will discover on route. A dear friend of mine...once said: 'The only time I know anything is when it comes to me at the point of my pen.' So I think that if you start to write about things that you know half well, that you’re fascinated by, that you sense you have an appreciation of that others might not have, but you do have to acquire the knowledge as you go, you discover a great many things at the point of a pen. And it keeps the writing alive in itself in a way.
(in an interview with Martin Amis, 1991, see YouTube)”
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(in an interview with Martin Amis, 1991, see YouTube)”
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“When we traveled for two and half days, we reached the Deads' road from which dead babies drove us, and when we reached there, we could not travel on it because of fearful dead babies, etc. which were still on it.”
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“Whatever reader desires to have a thorough comprehension of an author's thoughts cannot take a better method than by putting himself into the circumstances and postures of life that the author was in upon every important passage as it flowed from his pen; for this will introduce a parity and strict correspondence of ideas between the reader and the author. Now, to assist the diligent reader in so delicate an affair, as far as brevity will permit, I have recollected that the shrewdest pieces of this treatise were conceived in bed in a garret; at other times (for a reason best known to myself) I thought fit to sharpen my invention with hunger; and in general, the whole work was begun, continued, and ended under a long course of physic and great want of money.”
― A Tale of a Tub
― A Tale of a Tub
The Thomas Mann Group
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Members of Kindred Spirits and other interested GR members read the works of Thomas Mann. Our next scheduled read is The Magic Mountain, taking plac ...more
Dystopias and Social Critiques
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This is a group for all the fans of Dystopias out there. Share your favorite dystopias, get new recommendations, and talk with other fans about this e ...more
Little Black Cart
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Our mission is the total transformation of society into one that is stateless and classless, a society of mutual aid, voluntary cooperation, and the l ...more
Free Books ARC & Beta Readers – New Authors
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Group Description: A dedicated space where New Authors and Passionate Readers connect. Our mission is to share stories without the pressure of mandato ...more
What next, now notifications are reduced, DMs abolished, so GR is dying?
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— last activity Jun 10, 2026 08:01PM
On 20 Sept 2024, GR removed the option for email notifications, without telling users (unless they looked at the "help" page). In-app/web notification ...more
William2’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at William2’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
6,831 books
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1,264 friends
5,050 books
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101 friends
2,285 books
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3,323 friends
1,814 books
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180 friends
1,679 books
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348 friends
3,384 books
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170 friends
14,817 books
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3,871 friends
756 books
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57 friends
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