Ex Libris Kirkland is my entirely self-centered way to keep track of what I read, what I like, and what I want to remember.
Recent Quotes 📖
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[some secret third thing....]
And the truth is some third thing, too tremendous to be remembered by men.an excerpt from The New Jerusalem, written by G. K. Chesterton in 1920
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I DON'T WANT TO BE A SPICE STORE
I don't want to be a spice store.
I don't want to carry handcrafted Marseille soap,
or tsampa and yak butter, or nine thousand varieties of wine.
Half the shops here don't open till noon
and even the bookstore's brined in charm.
I want to be the one store that's open all night
and has nothing but necessities.
Something to get a fire going
and something to put one out.
A place where things stay frozen and a place where they are sweet.
I want to hold within myself the possibility
of plugging one's ears and easing one's eyes;
superglue for ruptures that are,
one would have thought, irreparable,
a whole bevy of nontoxic solutions
for everyday disasters. I want to wait
brightly lit and with the patience
I never had as a child
for my father to find me open
on Christmas morning in his last-ditch, lone-wolf drive
for gifts. "Light of the World" penlight,
bobblehead compass, fuzzy dice.
I want to hum just a little with my own emptiness
at 4 a.m. To have little bells above my door.
To have a door.an excerpt from Survival Is a Style, written by Christian Wiman in 2020
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She had some very valuable Christian virtues, such as indiscriminate charity for the poor and indiscriminate loathing for the Prussians.
an excerpt from The New Jerusalem, written by G. K. Chesterton in 1920
Recent Notes 📓
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It's Space Spiders from Children of Time, but this time with Octopus! Felt more genre-y, but I liked the second crack at 'what if a different earth animal species evolved intelligence?'
an note about Children of Ruin, written by Adrian Tchaikovsky in 219
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Basically: think like a consultant trying to help your clients solve problems instead of a sales person just trying to get someone to say YES. The best sales happen when you’re not actively trying to close a deal. You’re trying to prioritize the clients actual needs and create a valuable outcome for them. My only observation is: duh?
an note about Never Be Closing, written by Tim Hurson in 2014
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It’s kind of nice to read something that’s just so affirming - yes, that’s absolutely how we already work at BNB. Disappointing, though, when I’m in the market for ‘use this one weird trick to make more sales’. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
an note about Never Be Closing, written by Tim Hurson in 2014
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