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284,297 voters
“Can you understand,' asked my father, 'the deep meaning of that weakness, that passion for colored tissue, for papier-mache, for distemper, for oakum and sawdust? This is,' he continued with a pained smile, 'the proof of our love for matter as such, for its fluffiness or porosity, for its unique mystical consistency. Demiurge, that great master and artist, made matter invisible, made it disappear under the surface of life. We, on the contrary, love its creaking, its resistance, its clumsiness. We like to see behind each gesture, behind each move, its inertia, its heavy effort, its bearlike awkwardness.”
― The Street of Crocodiles
― The Street of Crocodiles
“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
International Reads
— 591 members
— last activity Aug 31, 2019 08:44PM
This book club's focus is on reading as diversely as possible. We hope to read books we may not otherwise have read or even heard of! This book club ...more
Women and Men
— 229 members
— last activity Nov 07, 2025 04:09AM
Women and Men began as a reading group for Joseph McElroy's masterpiece. It has developed into All Things McElroy. We have chapter threads for discuss ...more
Reading the Classics
— 4049 members
— last activity May 10, 2025 07:28AM
This is a group for people who want to read the classics and discuss them as a group. Each month we will choose as a group a book to read. Everyone is ...more
¡ POETRY !
— 22572 members
— last activity Dec 24, 2025 01:37PM
No pretensions: just poetry. Stop by, recommend books, offer up poems (excerpted), tempt us, taunt us, tell us what to read and where to go (to read ...more
Loosed in Translation
— 525 members
— last activity Jan 14, 2026 02:22PM
Are you interested in world literature, and works in translation? Come here for recommendations, resources, links, advice on who the best translator o ...more
Derek’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Derek’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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