Category: words

“Library cards have always had the same purpose—to keep track of borrowers’ loans—but originally they were invented for a different type of library.”

“It’s great to receive a big wad of cash, of course, especially when you’re a writer with an erratic income trying to cobble together a living from part-time day jobs, intermittent advances, peripatetic teaching gigs and the occasional one-time grant. But unexpected sums bring unexpected burdens, both practical (What does this mean for my tax situation?) and psychological (Am I a fraud who does not deserve this money?)”

The poet Adrienne Rich’s “radical feminist beliefs had a curiously distancing effect, often thought too blunt, too simplistic. It seems hard for people to imagine that these ideas could be the result of a complex mind, a complicated experience. And like many artists, Rich was wary of those who wanted to connect her work too closely to the shape of her life. When she died, she asked that her friends and family refrain from participating in any full-length biography; many of her archived letters to close friends are sealed until 2050.”

“Stone Dreams, which told of the massacres of Armenians by Azeris, provoked widespread protests in Azerbaijan four years ago. Aylisli’s books were burned, his title of ‘People’s Writer’ revoked, and a reward was offered to anyone who cut off his ear.”

“Would people ignore the stacks, bump into them, see them as pile of rubbish? He has no idea what the immediate reactions have been, because he doesn’t stick around.”

“This phenomenon has acquired a certain curatorial cachet for museums, conferences, festivals, listicles, and panels: the meme is mother to the making.”

“The problem is that so much of the effort has focused on the cities. We have to start from the village. If this library was in the city, we would have 100 visitors a day. But to me, the five visitors in the village are more important than the 100 in the city.”

“Despite the perception that blockbusters like “Fifty Shades of Grey” drive sales, self-publishing has proved a boon for this particular genre. E-books make up nearly 40 percent of all purchases, according to the writers group. And there are categories for every reader’s taste, among them, adventure, Christian, multicultural, L.G.B.T. and paranormal.”

“More than a year into the lawsuit it filed over Maurice Sendak’s will, the Rosenbach of the Free Library of Philadelphia has asked a Connecticut judge to remove the executors of the author-illustrator’s estate. Motivated by ‘financial self-interest,’ Sendak’s executors have refused to carry out his wish to leave millions of dollars’ worth of books to the Rosenbach,” the motion claims.