#evie

I have begun in old age to understand just how oddly we all are put together. We are so proud of our autonomy that we seldom if ever realize how generous we are to ourselves, and just how stingy with others. One of the booby traps of freedom--which is bordered on all sides by isolation--is that we think so well of ourselves. I now see that I have helped myself to the best cuts at life's banquet. ↗

— Saul Bellow

#age

If you see the world as gloomily as I see it, the only thing to do is laugh or shoot yourself. ↗

— John le Carré

#the-art-of-fiction-no- #art

The House Beautiful is, for me, the play lousy. ↗

— Dorothy Parker

#review #the-new-yorker #beauty

The critic's aim should be to interpret the work they are writing about and help readers appreciate it, by defining and analysing those qualities that make it precious and by indicating the angle of visions from which its beauties are visible. But many critics do not realize their function. They aim not to appreciate, but to judge; they seek first to draw lines about literature and then bully readers into accepting these laws. ↗

— David Cecil

#literary-criticism #beauty

Shy, all those things you listed don’t make a person. They don’t. I mean it. You’re beautiful, both inside and outside, but please don’t look at me to validate that. You have to know it for yourself. -Taylor Holden, Strapped. ↗

— Nina G. Jones

#erotica #mystery-suspense #nina-g-jones #preview #quote

Too many people miss out on real love because they're too busy waiting for the ONE to show up ↗

— Alexandra Potter

#life-lessons #love #business

With the Black Company series Glen Cook single-handedly changed the face of fantasy—something a lot of people didn’t notice and maybe still don’t. He brought the story down to a human level, dispensing with the cliché archetypes of princes, kings, and evil sorcerers. Reading his stuff was like reading Vietnam War fiction on peyote. ↗

— Steven Erikson

#fiction #glen-cook #review #steven-erikson #change

What readers ask nowadays in a book is that it should improve, instruct and elevate. This book wouldn't elevate a cow. I cannot conscientiously recommend it for any useful purposes whatever. All I can suggest is that when you get tired of reading "the best hundred books," you may take this for half an hour. It will be a change. ↗

— Jerome K. Jerome

#literary-criticism #change

The police have asked for my help. There's been a murder." "A murder! Oh, my. Let me just change my shoes," Evie said excitedly. "It won't be a minute. ↗

— Libba Bray

#murder #shoes #change

It makes it difficult to decide which to go see, since no film about say, some tragic genocide in Africa is going to get a bad review even if it's poorly made. ↗

— Terry Zwigoff

#africa #bad #bad review #decide #difficult