reading

the archivist April 9, 2013

“The truth is, everyone likes to look down on someone. If your favorites are all avant-garde writers who throw in Sanskrit and German, you can look down on everyone. If your favorites are all Oprah Book Club books, you can at least look down on mystery readers. Mystery readers have sci-fi readers. Sci-fi can look […]

the archivist July 9, 2012

Italo Calvino’s Definition: What Makes a Book a “Classic”? The classics are the books of which we usually hear people say, “I am rereading…” and never “I am reading…” We use the words “classics” for books that are treasured by those who have read and loved them; but they are treasured no less by those […]

the archivist April 27, 2006

The Reader Wallace Stevens All night I sat reading a book, Sat reading as if in a book Of sombre pages. It was autumn and falling stars Covered the shrivelled forms Crouched in moonlight. No lamp was burning as I read, A voice was mumbling, “Everything Falls back to coldness, Even the musky muscadines, The […]