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A wise reader reads the book of genius not with his heart, not so much with his brain, but with his spine. It is there that occurs the telltale tingle...more

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But after all we are not children, not illiterate juvenile delinquents, not English public school boys who after a night of homosexual romps have to e...more

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The good, the admirable reader identifies himself not with the boy or the girl in the book, but with the mind that conceived and composed that book.

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She is a great gobbler of books, but reads only trash, memorizing nothing and leaving out the longer descriptions.

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Curiously enough, one cannot read a book: one can only reread it. A good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader is a rereader. And I sh...more

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Literature, real literature, must not be gulped down like some potion which may be good for the heart or good for the brain — the brain, that stomach ...more

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Doom is nigh. I am in acute distress, desperately trying to coax sleep, opening my eyes every few seconds to check their faded gleam, and imagining pa...more

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We are liable to miss the best of life if we do not know how to tingle, if we do not learn to hoist ourselves just a little higher than we generally a...more

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We are absurdly accustomed to the miracle of a few written signs being able to contain immortal imagery, involutions of thought, new worlds with live ...more