“Literature, real literature, must not be gulped down like some potion which may be good for the heart or good for the brain—the brain, that stomach of the soul. Literature must be taken and broken to bits, pulled apart, squashed—then its lovely reek will be smelt in the hollow of the palm, it will be munched and rolled upon the tongue with relish; then, and only then, its rare flavor will be appreciated at its true worth and the broken and crushed parts will again come together in your mind and disclose the beauty of a unity to which you have contributed something of your own blood.” ― Vladimir Nabokov, Lectures on Russian Literature
Courting Books.
I haven’t written here in a long time. The purpose of this blog was to quote things about reading or write notes, reactions and summaries about books I’m currently reading. The latter is what I want to begin again. I want to write about what affects me mentally, spiritually and emotionally. I’m still looking for such a book. I believe the last book I read that triggered such a reaction was Milan Kundera’s Unbearable Lightness of Being, read approximately a year and a half ago.
Time is going by very fast and little happens. When books are involved, Time is irrelevant. Not only irrelevant but stimulatingly productive. So I’ve decided to court books into becoming somewhat of a significant other…
My current read is Super Freakonomics. The last read was Freakonomics. They’ve got some very interesting facts and insights but I question, of course, how some of the data was gathered. Rightly so! They tell you to be weary of experts. Mostly, aside from the unconventional ways of thinking and interesting tidbits of facts, I’m very intrigued by how people respond to incentives. Probably because it parallels with what I’m seeing in the real world as of late, in the behavior of those I work with as well as my own. Stripping life of romance for JUST this sentence, there is nothing without incentives. There is an interesting chapter on altruism that tested human behavior in a set of controlled experiments. I will not get into it right now.
I don’t think I’m going to write too much about Freakonomics or Super Freakonomics in this blog. I may mention the books again in another entry with a few interesting points that have caught my attention but we shall see…
Words can be perfect. They have the ability to calm, to agitate, to excite, to… be a catalyst. Epiphany or not. So books, accept my courting…
It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.
“
| — | Oscar Wilde (via maeby-today) |
Great Doctor Who episode where Vincent Van Gogh is a character. Oh, tear.
The Doctor: The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don’t always soften the bad things, but vice-versa, the bad things don’t necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant.
positivelypresent: ashappyaskings: I may have posted this before, but it doesn’t matter when it’s good advice!
We’re going to meet a lot of lonely people in the next week and the next month and the next year. And when they ask us what we’re doing, you can say, We’re remembering. That’s where we’ll win out in the long run. And someday we’ll remember so much that we’ll build the biggest goddamn steam shovel in history and dig the biggest grave of all time and shove war in it and cover it up.
“
| — | Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 (via loveseat) |
![cocktailcapote:
From the edge of your eyes I perceive,at the crack in your mouth where theoxygen seethes & vibrates.All I have here at stake is my mind.At the stake she was burned for her mindIn my heart she will burn like A lie for my life.Like a scar - she’s for L I F E[Written over a photo of Milla]
Anno Birkin](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lb2ozlZF0i1qc3eseo1_500.jpg)
