November 16, 2011
October 25, 2011
For once I want to be the car crash, not just the traffic jam.
Snow Patrol | Headlights On Dark Roads (via juneandafter)October 20, 2011
I went down to the bookstore this evening
and found myself in the poetry section.
But for every thin book of poems
there was a thick biography of the poet
and an even thicker book
by someone who’s supposed to know
explaining what the poet
is supposed to’ve said and why he didn’t.
So you don’t have to waste your time
on the best the writer could do,
the words he fought the darkness and himself for,
the unequal battle with beauty.
Instead you can read comfortably
about the worst the writer could do:
the mess he made of his life,
how he fought with his family,
cheated on his lovers, didn’t pay his debts
and not only drank too much
but all the stupid things
he ever said to the bartender
just before getting 86′d will be printed for you
and they’re just as stupid
as the things everyone says just before getting 86′d.
The books explaining the poet
are themselves inexplicable.
The students who have to read them
cheat.
I left the poetry section
thinking about burning the bookstore down.
Some of the poet’s work comes from his life, ok.
But most of the poet’s work comes
in spite of his life, in spite of everything,
even in spite of the bookstores.
So I went to the next section
and bought a murder mystery but I haven’t read it yet.
I find I don’t want to know who done it
and why;
I want to do it myself.
October 8, 2011
October 1, 2011
We’re giving away a $100 USD gift card to the fav bookstore of the person who submits the best photo of books as determined by the Book Riot community.
Send us an original creative photo of books - jumbled, stacked, shelved, mached or however. We want to see your prettiest, most…
September 24, 2011
Gemma Arterton as the Assistant
‘… dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.’
Preface to Leaves of Green, page 8 {Walt Whitman}
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Gemma Arterton reblogging for pretty graphic
August 27, 2011
The best moments in reading are when you come across something – a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things – that you’d thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you’ve never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it’s as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.
The History Boys (via prettybooks)
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books lit quotation quote reading The History Boys
