progress:
(page 0 of 577)
"still on the prelude... embarrassed to be reading this" — Jan 06, 2023 03:55PM
"still on the prelude... embarrassed to be reading this" — Jan 06, 2023 03:55PM


“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”
― The Bell Jar
― The Bell Jar

“Surely all art is the result of one's having been in danger, of having gone through an experience all the way to the end, where no one can go any further. The further one goes, the more private, the more personal, the more singular an experience becomes, and the thing one is making is, finally, the necessary, irrepressible, and as nearly as possible, the definitive utterance of this singularity.”
― Letters to a Young Poet
― Letters to a Young Poet

“People just... disappear," he says.
"The Earth just opens up and swallows people," I say, some what sadly, checking my Rolex.
"Eerie." Kimball yawns, stretching. "Really eerie."
"Ominous." I nod my agreement.
"It's just"- he sights, exasperated- "futile.”
― American Psycho
"The Earth just opens up and swallows people," I say, some what sadly, checking my Rolex.
"Eerie." Kimball yawns, stretching. "Really eerie."
"Ominous." I nod my agreement.
"It's just"- he sights, exasperated- "futile.”
― American Psycho

“I am, I am, I exist, I think therefore I am; I am because I think, why do I think? I don't want to think anymore.”
― Nausea
― Nausea

“The ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.”
― The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy
― The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy
astrid’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at astrid’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends�
Favorite Genres
Art, Biography, Classics, Historical fiction, History, Non-fiction, Philosophy, Poetry, Psychology, Science, and LGBTQ
Polls voted on by astrid
Lists liked by astrid