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6f1daa4 I waited for dawn, but only because I had forgotten how hard mornings were. For a second I'd be normal. Then came the dim awareness of something off, out of place. Then the truth came crashing down and that was it for the rest of the day. Sunlight was reproof. Shouldn't I feel better than I had in the dead of night. grief loss sorrow sadness sad Francine Prose
225df05 The mystery of death, the riddle of how you could speak to someone and see them every day and then never again, was so impossible to fathom that of course we kept trying to figure it out, even when we were unconscious. loss Francine Prose
4ea7a4f People see everything through the lens of their obsessions. Francine Prose
727bbf4 With so much reading ahead of you, the temptation might be to speed up. But in fact it's essential to slow down and read every word. Because one important thing that can be learned by reading slowly is the seemingly obvious but oddly underappreciated fact that language is the medium we use in much the same way a composer uses notes, the way a painter uses paint. I realize it may seem obvious, but it's surprising how easily we lose sight of .. Francine Prose
4e67078 I've always found that the better the book I'm reading, the smarter I feel, or, at least, the more able I am to imagine that I might, someday, become smarter. reading Francine Prose
78ff3f7 Like seeing a photograph of yourself as a child, encountering handwriting that you know was once yours but that now seems only dimly familiar can inspire a confrontation with the mystery of time. handwriting Francine Prose
5a21c49 To be truthful, some writers stop you dead in your tracks by making you see your own work in the most unflattering light. Each of us will meet a different harbinger of personal failure, some innocent genius chosen by us for reasons having to do with what we see as our own inadequacies. The only remedy to this I have found is to read a writer whose work is entirely different from another, though not necessarily more like your own--a differen.. Francine Prose
7817470 Too often students are being taught to read as if literature were some kind of ethics class or civics class--or worse, some kind of self-help manual. In fact, the important thing is the way the writer uses the language. Francine Prose
dc1b87d Reading Chekhov, I felt not happy, exactly, but as close to happiness as I knew I was likely to come. And it occurred to me that this was the pleasure and mystery of reading, as well as the answer to those who say that books will disappear. For now, books are still the best way of taking great art and its consolations along with us on a bus. literature reading chekhov Francine Prose
7cbebd9 Referring to passage by Alice Munro] Finally, the passage contradicts a form of bad advice often given young writers -- namely, that the job of the author is to show, not tell. Needless to say, many great novelists combine "dramatic" showing with long sections of the flat-out authorial narration that is, I guess, what is meant by telling. And the warning against telling leads to a confusion that causes novice writers to think that everythin.. fiction writing show-don-t-tell language Francine Prose
959fa7d We don't know what we'd do. Nobody knows what accident of fate or DNA or character will determine how we act when the shit hits the fan. Francine Prose
e59e7b2 Read your work aloud, if you can, if you aren't too embarrassed by the sound of your voice ringing out when you are alone in a room. Chances are that the sentence you can hardly pronounce without stumbling is a sentence that needs to be reworked to make it smoother and more fluent. A poet once told me that he was reading a draft of a new poem aloud to himself when a thief broke into his Manhattan loft. Instantly surmising that he had entere.. writing Francine Prose
efe00d9 What's strange is how many beginning writers seem to think that grammar is irrelevant, or that they are somehow above or beyond this subject more fit for a schoolchild than the future author of great literature. Francine Prose
c742a29 I'm out of the equation, an innocent bystander at the major love affair Joan is having with Joan Francine Prose
26b76a6 Something about the beauty of the library and how many books there were made me feel really eager to read, and I couldn't wait to get some free time so I could go back there and explore. Francine Prose
873f163 There are some people who remain your best friends even if you haven't seen them for ages, and others with whom you start from scratch every time. Francine Prose
40b2f59 And there was that trick he did with time, making it speed up when we were together and drag til I saw him again. time Francine Prose
6267385 Throughout her life, she behaved as if she had never heard anyone suggest that a woman couldn't do entirely as she pleased. woman Francine Prose
9fb344d the truth is that grammar is always interesting, always useful. Mastering the logic of grammar contributes, in a mysterious way that again evokes some process of osmosis, to the logic of thought. Francine Prose
e6b4f89 So perhaps the correct conclusion is that Green was less attuned to how people when they speak - the actual words and expressions they employ - than to what they . This notion of dialogue as a pure expression of character that...transcends the specifics of time and place may be partly why the conversations in the works of writers such as Austen and Bronte often sound fresh and astonishingly contemporary... Francine Prose
586faa9 It is the rarest of qualities: to feel something--anything--for someone beside yourself. And in my experience it is rarer still to have empathy for people you don't know. Francine Prose
f8a1e70 vinegar of the interrogator with the oil of a flirt, Francine Prose
3a33b85 Every so often I'll hear writers say that there are other writers they would read if for no other reason than to marvel at the skill with which they can put together the sort of sentences that move us to read closely, to disassemble and reassemble them, much the way a mechanic might learn about an engine by taking it apart. Francine Prose
515a21a If we want to write, it makes sense to read--and to read like a writer. If we wanted to grow roses, we would want to visit rose gardens and try to see them the way that a rose gardener would. Francine Prose
f5fed98 A woman would have to be crazy to marry, or even have sex with, a man who would prosecute every lover's quarrel like a criminal case Francine Prose
ddd09af Paris is an insomniac's heaven. There is always something to photograph, something hidden in the shadows. One can see so much more in the darkness than in the light of day. Francine Prose
42022f5 It is time for writers to admit that nothing in this world makes sense. Only fools and charlatans think they know and understand everything. The stupider they are, the wider they conceive their horizons to be. And if an artist decides to declare that he understands nothing of what he sees--this in itself constitutes a considerable clarity in the realm of thought, and a great step forward. Francine Prose
ccf2014 Anne is remarkably restrained in calibrating the amount of fear she will admit into the diary. The air raids, the break-ins, and the brutality reported by the helpers and glimpsed from the window appear at regular intervals, so that the reader can never fully relax. Francine Prose
518495d good writing should be grasped at once--in a second. Francine Prose
13e8ac0 So it may be that reading your work aloud will not only improve its quality but save your life in the process. Francine Prose
79209ab Not all great writers may seem great to us, regardless of how often and how hard we try to see their virtues. I know, for example, that Trollope is considered to have been a brilliant novelist, but I've never quite understood what makes his fans so fervent. Still, our tastes change as we ourselves change and grow older, and perhaps in a few months or so Trollope will have become my new favorite writer. Francine Prose
610b7df All of us have observed how often our erotic attractions reflect a mysterious but consistent taste, almost as if we were ordering a favorite dish Francine Prose
b91e83f Only a natural writer could sound as if she is not writing so much as thinking on the page. Francine Prose
1ea59c2 AMONG THE DEMONS that taunt a writer before he can open a vein and write in his own blood are the devils that whisper: Are you brave enough to tell the truth? Francine Prose
afed208 Consequently, we sympathize. We identify. We care. In fact, most writers would like you to identify Francine Prose
edc1fd0 There are many occasions in literature in which telling is far more effective than showing. Francine Prose
c625211 Every page was once a blank page, just as every word that appears on it now was not always there, but instead reflects the final result of countless large and small deliberations. Francine Prose
92ee4a8 I am struck most strongly by her introspection, solitude, perfect self-awareness and sense of purpose...The beauty and truth of her words have transcended the limits placed upon her life by the darkness of human nature. Francine Prose
4792c7a Like the one-sentence paragraph, the second-person point of view can also make us suspect that style is being used as a substitute for content. Francine Prose
b35125e Love is strange" was what everyone said. It was practically the club motto." Francine Prose
ece5f3c Let me digress a moment to talk about beginnings. How much simpler life would be if we were wise enough to stop at the first blush of romance, the start of a business transaction or a casual friendship. If we knew enough to pause and think: this is as good as it gets. Everything will go downhill from this moment on. So once again our instincts are the opposite of what they should be, propelling us forward exactly when they should be holding.. Francine Prose
7a8f027 Reading was like eating alone, with that same element of bingeing. Francine Prose
3639a3d Isolated in the attic, Anne could only examine her own history and her own conscience, and try to locate the wellspring of her sadness and her rage. Francine Prose
67047a0 You will do yourself a disservice if you confine your reading to the rising star whose six-figure, two-book contract might seem to indicate where your own work should be heading. I'm not saying you shouldn't read such writers, some of whom are excellent and deserving of celebrity. I'm only pointing out that they represent the dot at the end of the long, glorious, complex sentence in which literature has been written. Francine Prose
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