Read…
“Read. Read. Read. Just don’t read one type of book. Read different books by various authors so that you develop different styles.”
– R.L. Stine
Good reader…
“Tis the good reader that makes the good book.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
The sorcery of books…
That is the sorcery of books…. All people can be wise by reading of books.”
– Puck of Pook’s Hill, Rudyard Kipling
Advice for writers
To observe the world carefully, to write a lot and often, on a schedule if necessary, to use the dictionary a lot, to look up word origins, to analyze closely the work of writers you admire, to read not only contemporaries but writers of the past, to learn at least one foreign language, to live an interesting life outside of writing.
—
Lydia Davis when asked what advice she has for young writers
Quote from Jane Austen
“It is very unfair to judge of anybody’s character without an intimate knowledge of their situation.”
– Jane Austen (Emma)
15 super unique libraries around the world
Feast your eyes on these supercool libraries.
Books…
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.
—Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
Explaining too much…
When a writer tries to explain too much, he’s out of time before he begins.
Isaac Bashevis Singer
Gillian Anderson’s message to the fans
Two decades later, a look back on The X-Files from Dana Scully herself! Check out Gillian Anderson’s message to the fans.
Read Gillian Anderson’s message to the fans here.
Penelope, a Madcap Regency Romance, by Anya Wylde
When I downloaded this book, it was temporarily available for free. It’s not that expensive even now. And it’s hilarious.
At the beginning of the book, Penelope comes to London to stay with a dowager duchess, her excentric father, her only a little less excentric (but extremely handsome) son and fun-loving daughter. Penelope lost her mother at birth and was raised, reluctantly by a mean stepmother. When she arrives she has her maid and her faithful pet goat in tow. The dowager duchess, who was a close friend of Penelope’s late mother, has promised to look after her friend’s daughter but feels she’s neglected this duty and invites Penelope to stay for her first season (of balls and dinner parties).
It’s not going to be as easy as it sounds, because Penelope is the most awkward and accident-prone girl in England. The duchess has to ask the help of the mysterious Madame, who has hllarious secrets to hide, and an endless knowledge of how to catch a husband.
I won’t say much about the plot because it’s nearly all just a lot of fun. This is probably the funniest book I’ve read since the Stephanie Plum ‘mysteries’ by Janet Evanovich. I can recommend both Penelope and Stephanie Plum to everyone who needs a good laugh (or two, or three…).
