“The writer should never be ashamed of staring. There is nothing that does not require his attention.”
―
―
“People without hope not only don’t write novels, but what is more to the point, they don’t read them. They don’t take long looks at anything, because they lack the courage. The way to despair is to refuse to have any kind of experience, and the novel, of course, is a way to have experience.”
―
―
“I can, with one eye squinted, take it all as a blessing.”
― The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor
― The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor
“There's a certain grain of stupidity that the writer of fiction can hardly do without, and this is the quality of having to stare, of not getting the point at once. The longer you look at one object, the more of the world you see in it; and it's well to remember that the serious fiction writer always writes about the whole world.”
―
―
“There is no excuse for anyone to write fiction for public consumption unless he has been called to do so by the presence of a gift. It is the nature of fiction not to be good for much unless it is good in itself.”
― Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose
― Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose
soco_ibanez’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at soco_ibanez’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by soco_ibanez
Lists liked by soco_ibanez



























