“I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound or stab us. If the book we're reading doesn't wake us up with a blow to the head, what are we reading for? So that it will make us happy, as you write? Good Lord, we would be happy precisely if we had no books, and the kind of books that make us happy are the kind we could write ourselves if we had to. But we need books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. That is my belief.”
―
―
“Pulvis et umbra sumus. (We are but dust and shadow.)”
― The Odes of Horace
― The Odes of Horace
“People know what they do; frequently they know why they do what they do; but what they don't know is what what they do does.”
― Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason
― Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason
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Melina’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Melina’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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