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Quote by Mark Edmundson

“The English major is, first of all, a reader. She's got a book pup-tented in front of her nose many hours a day; her Kindle glows softly late into the night. But there are readers and there are readers. There are people who read to anesthetize themselves—they read to induce a vivid, continuous, and risk-free daydream. They read for the same reason that people grab a glass of chardonnay—to put a light buzz on. The English major reads because, as rich as the one life he has may be, one life is not enough. He reads not to see the world through the eyes of other people but effectively to become other people. What is it like to be John Milton, Jane Austen, Chinua Achebe? What is it like to be them at their best, at the top of their games?”

Quote by Mark Edmundson

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Mark Edmundson

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“You going back?' he asks. 'Where?' 'College,' he says. 'You plan on going back?' And before she can think of a proper answer, she blurts out the first thing that comes to mind: 'Why would I?' 'To finish your degree,' he says. 'Yeah, I get it,' she says. 'But—why?' 'To get a better job?' 'I’m okay with this one,' she says. 'Yeah,' he says, shifting in his seat again. 'But—I don’t know. Can’t you make more money?' 'Linus,' she says, leveling her eyes at him. 'I was an English major.”