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Selections from The Poems of Tennyson
Alfred Lord Tennyson
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Clive Staples Lewis
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Evelyn Waugh
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The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction
Alan Jacobs
Ex Libris Kirkland is my extremely self-centered way to keep track of what I read, what I like, and what I want to remember.
Recent Added Notes
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May 20, 2012
an observation on The Railway Children by E Nesbit
We found this at one of the only used bookshops in Hong Kong, and were totally charmed by it.
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May 20, 2012
an observation on Selections from The Poems of Tennyson by Alfred Lord Tennyson
OK, I know I say this about every old author I discover, but all the same: why didn't anybody tell me Tennyson is so good?
I saw a reference to Ulysses recently, and followed it up. One super Google search later, and I have a new poet-of-the-month. -
May 20, 2012
an observation on Letters to Malcolm by Clive Staples Lewis
Lewis' exploration of the idea of Purgatory is really interesting. He imagines that when we come face to face with God, we might desire to go away and be cleansed of our sin through a /purging/, even if that purging is long and painful. I can sympathize with the feeling, but it seems to miss a connection with Christ's imputed righteousness.
Recently Added Quotes
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May 20, 2012
an excerpt from She Stoops to Conquer, written by Oliver Goldsmith in 1773
HARDCASTLE: Ay, Kate, but there is still an obstacle. It's more than an even wager he may not have you.
MISS HARDCASTLE: My dear papa, why will you mortify one so?--Well, if he refuses, instead of breaking my heart at his indifference, I'll only break my glass for its flattery, set my cap to some newer fashion, and look out for some less difficult admirer. -
May 20, 2012
an excerpt from The Greek Way, written by Edith Hamilton in 1930
[regarding the Peloponnesian War] They fought not because they were different - democratic Athens and oligarchical Sparta - but because they were alike.
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May 20, 2012
an excerpt from The Greek Way, written by Edith Hamilton in 1930
On this point it is illuminating to consider our every-day use of the words tragedy and tragic. Pain, sorrow, disaster, are always spoken of as depressing, as dragging down-- the dark abyss of pain, a crushing sorrow, an overwhelming disaster. But speak of tragedy and extraordinarily the metaphor changes. Lift us to tragic heights, we way, and never anything else. The depths of pathos but never of tragedy. Always the height of tragedy. A word is no light matter. Words have with truth been called fossil poetry, each, that is, a symbol of a creative thought. The whole philosophy of human nature is implicit in human speech. It is a matter to pause over, that the instinct of mankind has perceived a difference, not of degree but of kind, between tragic pain and all other pain. There is something in tragedy which marks it off from the other disaster so sharply that in our common speech we bear witness to the difference.