I recently started something I haven’t done since college. As you lie in bed reading a book, you realize that a certain passage has grabbed your attention. And I find myself desperately searching for a pen on my bedside table to underline a particularly good sentence. Have you ever done something like this? Here are the three parts I marked (and let me know what you’ve been loving lately)…
“I didn’t know how to get angry at people yet, so I just copied the behavior I was seeing at home: talking to someone in tight, concise, short sentences until they went crazy.”
— “The Rachel Affair” by Caroline O’Donoghue
“Both[my father and grandfather]had thick, scraggly beards that were carefully groomed… This was in the name of their love of wells, which meant that even a small child would have something in which to bury their hands. , it seemed like a kind of sacrifice.” As I approached the ground, a hand might reach out. ”
— Hanif Abdulaqib “There’s always this year”
“My curiosity about the Gray is that he’s a huge, ferocious dog on a very tight leash.”
— Another Great Thing by Laurie Colwin
In the third piece, a man in the midst of an affair thinks about his lover’s spouse. (Note that I was asked why I read about infidelity. I’m not interested in actual infidelity, but in the same way I watch The Sopranos even though I’m not a big fan, I’m not interested in infidelity.) I don’t mind reading about it. I’m just really interested in different people’s lives and why they do the things they do.
Anyway, the reason this sentence struck me is because I can’t decide if this is something I’m embarrassed to admit or not. — that describes how I feel about the men I’m currently dating and the women I’ve dated before. I’m interested in his romantic past, but I don’t explore because I know even the smallest thing drives me crazy — hence the giant dog, tightly on a leash. Have you ever felt like this? I know it’s uncool, but what a perfect way to put it.
Sometimes a book gets you right in a way that’s like a slap in the forehead. A while ago, I was in a bookstore with a friend. My friend said that he only reads non-fiction because he always wants to learn something when he reads books. He pointed out that we can learn a lot from fiction. “Oh, sure, in terms of sentence structure and syntax and all that,” he replied. “No, it’s about the human condition!” I said.
Remember the wise words of Ethan Hawke? “Most people don’t spend a lot of time thinking about poetry…They have lives to live, until their father dies and they go to the funeral. , I don’t really care about Allen Ginsberg’s poems or other people’s poems. You lose a child, you lose your heart, someone doesn’t love you anymore, and all of a sudden you make meaning out of this life. Desperately, I asked myself, “Is there anyone else who has gone through this much pain?” How did they come out of this cloud? ”And that’s when you need it.
Tell us: What have you been reading lately? Which line left an impression on you? Novels, poems, non-fiction, memoirs, we’d love to hear from you!
PS This poem is so romantic that I can’t help but think about dark and funny books.
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