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Quote by Michael Dirda

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Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life

This book is a compilation of insights and musings on the significance of reading in shaping personal growth and understanding of the world. It explores the transformative power of literature and its role in enriching one's life. more

Author

Michael Dirda
Michael Dirda

Michael Dirda is an American literary critic and writer, born on November 6, 1948. His work spans a wide range of literary genres, including novels, poetry, and drama. Dirda is known for his in-depth analysis and unique insights, with his reviews frequently appearing in prominent media such as The Washington Post. more

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“I have now and again tried to imagine the perfect environment, the ideal conditions for reading: A worn leather armchair on a rainy night? A hammock in a freshly mown backyard? A verandah overlooking the summer sea? Good choices, every one. But I have no doubt that they are all merely displacements, sentimental attempts to replicate the warmth and snugness of my mother's lap.”

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“Once we know the plot and its surprises, we can appreciate a book's artistry without the usual confusion and sap flow of emotion, content to follow the action with tenderness and interest, all passion spent. Rather than surrender to the story or the characters - as a good first reader ought - we can now look at how the book works, and instead of swooning over it like a besotted lover begin to appreciate its intricacy and craftmanship. Surprisingly, such dissection doesn't murder the experience. Just the opposite: Only then does a work of art fully live.”

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“In Madame Bovary Flaubert never allows anything to go on too long; he can suggest years of boredom in a paragraph, capture the essence of a character in a single conversational exchange, or show us the gulf between his soulful heroine and her dull-witted husband in a sentence (and one that, moreover, presages all Emma's later experience of men). (...) This is one of the summits of prose art, and not to know such a masterpiece is to live a diminished life.”

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Author:Michael Dirda
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“Look people. I’m just a tool to get you where you need to go. If you don’t want to go there, that’s on you. But I’m going to do my best to help you get where you want to be. Okay. So when you get mad and I hear you say ‘I love you but I hate you’. Let’s take the hate out. Love me and love yourself because you can dig, and you can go.”

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