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“Mockery of religion is one of the most essential things…one of the beginnings of the human emancipation is the ability to laugh at authority, its indispensable”
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“The next suitable person you’re in light conversation with, you stop suddenly in the middle of the conversation and look at the person closely and say, “What’s wrong?” You say it in a concerned way. He’ll say, “What do you mean?” You say, “Something’s wrong. I can tell. What is it?” And he’ll look stunned and say, “How did you know?” He doesn’t realize something’s always wrong, with everybody. Often more than one thing. He doesn’t know everybody’s always going around all the time with something wrong and believing they’re exerting great willpower and control to keep other people, for whom they think nothing’s ever wrong, from seeing it. This is the way of people. Suddenly ask what’s wrong and whether they open up and spill their guts or deny it and pretend you’re off, they’ll think you’re perceptive and understanding. They’ll either be grateful, or they’ll be frightened and avoid you from then on. Both reactions have their uses, as we’ll get to. You can play it either way. This works over 90 percent of the time.”
― The Pale King
― The Pale King
“We can only die in the future, I thought; right now we are always alive.”
― The Collected Stories
― The Collected Stories
“For us, books have turned into fast food, to be consumed in the gaps between one bout of relentless living and the next. Airports, subways, maybe half an hour at bedtime, maybe something with the office sandwich, isn’t really ideal.”
― Nightwood
― Nightwood
Ask Gary Shteyngart - Friday, March 7th!
— 183 members
— last activity Mar 08, 2014 09:10PM
Join us on Friday, March 7th, for a special discussion with author Gary Shteyngart! The author will be discussing his book Little Failure. Become a f ...more
Completists' Club
— 538 members
— last activity Dec 24, 2024 10:59PM
A group for those attempting to complete, or who have completed, the canons of their favourite writers. Share your canon-wide knowledge and opinion wi ...more
Literary Fiction Dialogue
— 169 members
— last activity Nov 28, 2025 12:40PM
A place for literary fiction readers and writers to engage in an open dialogue concerning the state of literature today, book recommendations, discuss ...more
Corey’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Corey’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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