Literature · Reflection
Marguerite Duras and the Advantage of the Written Word…
A line from The Lover on what writing can wipe out, replace, and transform.
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Stories to linger over.
A curated selection from the Moniqs archive, newest first. More stories are being moved over from the original site.
Literature · Book review
Little Bird of Heaven by Joyce Carol Oates
Monique reflects on Joyce Carol Oates’s intense novel of love, violence, loss, and two families divided by a murder.
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Literature · Reflection
Books and Happiness
A quiet celebration of books through Edmund Tarbell’s Girl Reading and a much-loved anonymous quotation.
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Literature · Essay
Jane Bowles ~ I Am A Writer…
“I am a writer and I want to write.” ― Jane Bowles Jane Bowles with her little dog. Fear and Hope “Like most people, you are not able to face more than one fear during your lifetime. You also spend your life fleeing…
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Literature · Reflection
Tavik Simon ~ “Vilma reading on a Sofa”
Series Women and their Passion for Books Tavik Simon, Vilma reading on a Sofa, 1912 “What on earth could be more luxurious than a sofa, a book, and a cup of coffee?” Anthony Trollope
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Literature · Reflection
Absence ~ Jean De La Fontaine
A QUOTE BY JEAN DE LA FONTAINE “L’absence est le plus grand de tous les maux” (Absence is the greatest of all evils) Jean de la Fontaine (1621-1695) WHO WAS JEAN DE LA FONTAINE? Jean de La Fontaine was a French fabulist…
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Literature · Reflection
Federico Garcia Lorca ~ No One Is Sleeping In This World
Federico Garcia Lorca “Let there be a landscape of open eyes and bitter wounds on fire. No one is sleeping in this world. No one, no one. I have said it before.” Who was Federico Garcia Lorca? Federico del Sagrado…
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Literature · Reflection
JAMES BALDWIN ~ THE IMPORTANCE OF LITERATURE
What does the American writer James Baldwin think about reading?… “You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read.” ~ James Baldwin (1924-1987) Who was James Baldwin? James Arthur Baldwin was an American novelist, playwrig
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Literature · Reflection
HAPPY WOMEN’S DAY ~ 8 March 2019
French Writer Simone de Beauvoir Some quotes by writer Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) “I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom.” “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” Simone de Beauvoir…
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Literature · Reflection
Nadine Gordimer ~ How To Make Sense Of Life…
Nadine Gordimer “Writing is making sense of life. You work your whole life and perhaps you’ve made sense of one small area.” Nadine Gordimer (born 1923, South Africa – died 2014, South Africa) “Truth isn’t always…
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Literature · Essay
Alice In Wonderland
I have always been a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland. Love the books, the movies, the drawings. The story helps me to escape real life and enter this marvelous fantasy world created by Lewis Carroll. Come and join me on…
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Literature · Reflection
Doris Lessing ~ The Way To Read Books
Doris Lessing ONE WAY TO READ A BOOK In the opinion of the famous writer Doris Lessing there is only one way to read. “There is only one way to read, which is to browse in libraries and bookshops, picking up books that…
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