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“Act out being alive, like a play. And after a while, a long while, it will be true.”
― East of Eden
― East of Eden
“I think the difference between a lie and a story is that a story utilizes the trappings and appearance of truth for the interest of the listener as well as of the teller. A story has in it neither gain nor loss. But a lie is a device for profit or escape. I suppose if that definition is strictly held to, then a writer of stories is a liar - if he is financially fortunate.”
― East of Eden
― East of Eden
“escape is never further than the nearest book”
― Cloud Atlas
― Cloud Atlas
“It’s best to keep America just like that, always in the background, a sort of picture post card which you look at in a weak moment. Like that, you imagine it’s always there waiting for you, unchanged, unspoiled, a big patriotic open space with cows and sheep and tenderhearted men ready to bugger everything in sight, man, woman or beast. It doesn’t exist, America. It’s a name you give to an abstract idea…”
― Tropic of Cancer
― Tropic of Cancer
“Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.”
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
MJ’s 2025 Year in Books
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