56 books
—
33 voters
read
(1350)
currently-reading (4)
to-read (269)
sci-fi (348)
guilty-pleasure-sci-fi (210)
non-fiction (193)
fantasy (176)
currently-reading (4)
to-read (269)
sci-fi (348)
guilty-pleasure-sci-fi (210)
non-fiction (193)
fantasy (176)
lit
(163)
history (132)
thriller (105)
mystery (104)
kid (58)
favorites (56)
history-fiction (52)
history (132)
thriller (105)
mystery (104)
kid (58)
favorites (56)
history-fiction (52)


“We are not nouns, we are verbs. I am not a thing - an actor, a writer - I am a person who does things - I write, I act - and I never know what I'm going to do next. I think you can be imprisoned if you think of yourself as a noun.”
―
―

“Love is not weakness. It's the bravest act of our lives.”
― American Girl: Memories That Made Me
― American Girl: Memories That Made Me

“Arkady was an Investigator of Special Cases, and if a bear running loose in the heart of Moscow was not a special case, he didn't know what was.”
― The Siberian Dilemma
― The Siberian Dilemma

“Read poetry every day of your life. Poetry is good because it flexes muscles you don’t use often enough. Poetry expands the senses and keeps them in prime condition. It keeps you aware of your nose, your eye, your ear, your tongue, your hand.
And, above all, poetry is compacted metaphor or simile. Such metaphors, like Japanese paper flowers, may expand outward into gigantic shapes. Ideas lie everywhere through the poetry books, yet how rarely have I heard short story teachers recommending them for browsing.
What poetry? Any poetry that makes your hair stand up along your arms. Don’t force yourself too hard. Take it easy. Over the years you may catch up to, move even with, and pass T. S. Eliot on your way to other pastures. You say you don’t understand Dylan Thomas? Yes, but your ganglion does, and your secret wits, and all your unborn children. Read him, as you can read a horse with your eyes, set free and charging over an endless green meadow on a windy day.”
― Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius Within You
And, above all, poetry is compacted metaphor or simile. Such metaphors, like Japanese paper flowers, may expand outward into gigantic shapes. Ideas lie everywhere through the poetry books, yet how rarely have I heard short story teachers recommending them for browsing.
What poetry? Any poetry that makes your hair stand up along your arms. Don’t force yourself too hard. Take it easy. Over the years you may catch up to, move even with, and pass T. S. Eliot on your way to other pastures. You say you don’t understand Dylan Thomas? Yes, but your ganglion does, and your secret wits, and all your unborn children. Read him, as you can read a horse with your eyes, set free and charging over an endless green meadow on a windy day.”
― Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius Within You

“In hindsight, Khrushchev stands out as a rare case of a nuclear optimist. His nuclear brinkmanship was exceptionally crude and aggressive, reckless and ideology-driven. The architect of the New Look played hardball. But he relied more on his instincts than on strategic calculations. And he was not a master of diplomatic compromise. His improvisations, lack of tact, rudeness, and spontaneity let him down, after several strokes of luck. His ideological beliefs, coupled with his emotional vacillations between insecurity and overconfidence, made him a failure as a negotiator.”
― A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev
― A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev
Ian’s 2024 Year in Books
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