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JoAnna
https://www.goodreads.com/annaojjoanna
When I was a young stay-at-home mom, the internet was a lifeline. From the comfort (and isolation) of my kitchen table, I’d read the news headlines, keep in touch with friends, browse the latest fashion trends, and discover better ways of
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“He was not yet in the Church, but already a sin without a name had occurred to him. Ordinarily, the thought might give him pleasure. He remembered Nunes saying that a man must come into the Church on his own intellectual level. And in a horror, remote but clear, saw that the more intelligent a man was, the more various the sins he was capable of committing.”
― Dayspring
― Dayspring
“He saw himself as a hated prier into the homes of strangers, a kind of intellectual charlatan rationalizing his own prurience into scientific curiosity; someone at once lower and more pretentious than a professional social worker.”
― Dayspring
― Dayspring
“It was such a nice feeling to know that someone was looking after you... that someone wanted you... that you were important to someone.”
― Anne of Ingleside
― Anne of Ingleside
“The individual citizen had no chance to voice his protest or his opinion, not even his fear. He could only leave the country - and so people did. Those who used 'I' instead of 'we' in their language had to escape. It was this fatal difference in grammar that divided them from the rest of their compatriots. As a consequence of this 'us', no civic society developed. The little there was, in the form of small, isolated, and marginalised groups, was soon swallowed up by the national homogenisation that did not permit any differences, any individualism. As under communism, individualism was punished - individuals speaking out against the war, or against nationalism, were singled out as 'traitors'.
How does a person who is a product of a totalitarian society learn responsibility, individuality, initiative? by saying 'no'. But this begins with saying 'I', thinking 'I' and doing 'I' - in public as well as in private. Individuality, the first-person singular, always existed under communism, it was just exiled from public and political life and exercised in private. Thus the terrible hypocrisy with which we learned to live in order to survive is having its backlash now: it is very difficult to connect the private and public 'I'; to start believing that an individual opinion, initiative, or vote could make a difference. There is still too big a danger that the citizen will withdraw into an anonymous, safe 'us'.”
― Café Europa: Life After Communism
How does a person who is a product of a totalitarian society learn responsibility, individuality, initiative? by saying 'no'. But this begins with saying 'I', thinking 'I' and doing 'I' - in public as well as in private. Individuality, the first-person singular, always existed under communism, it was just exiled from public and political life and exercised in private. Thus the terrible hypocrisy with which we learned to live in order to survive is having its backlash now: it is very difficult to connect the private and public 'I'; to start believing that an individual opinion, initiative, or vote could make a difference. There is still too big a danger that the citizen will withdraw into an anonymous, safe 'us'.”
― Café Europa: Life After Communism
“Nobody would doubt for one moment that my husband is a rich foreigner - why in the world would I marry a poor one? My marriage also means that I have escaped the common destiny of my people: the war, poverty, insecurity, unemployment, disappointment, political confusion, low wages, and the feeling that time is running out fast and you can't be certain if the future will bring anything better.”
― Café Europa: Life After Communism
― Café Europa: Life After Communism
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Never too Late to Read Classics
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NTLTRC will help you find your love of Classcis! Find intrigue, well-developed characters, prose that is complex and beautiful, compelling stories tha ...more
JoAnna’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at JoAnna’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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