You do not immortalize the lost by writing about them. Language buries, but does not resurrect.
John Green
If you were to go, and hopefully someday you will, you would see a lot of paintings of dead people. You'd see Jesus on the cross, and you'd see a dude get stabbed in the neck, and you'd see people dying at sea and in battle and a parade of martyrs. But Not. One. Single. Cancer. Kid. Nobody biting it from the plague or smallpox or yellow fever or whatever, because there is no glory in illness. There is no meaning to it. There is no honor in dying of.
honor glory people art meaning jesus cross battle illness dead sea single cancer dying martyrs plague paintings
Neither novels or their readers benefit from any attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story. Such efforts attack the very idea that made-up stories can matter, which is sort of the foundational assumption of our species.
idea stories fiction story readers divine on-fiction facts novels matter inside benefit books
I don't know where people got the idea that characters in books a supposed to be likable. Books are not in the business of creating merely likeable characters with whom you can have some simple identification with. Books are in the business of crating great stories that make you're brain go ahhbdgbdmerhbergurhbudgerbudbaaarr.
funny humor idea people business stories characters simple brain great creating books
The Rough Guide to Nepal; The Great Sights of Canada; America by Car; Fodor's Guide to the Bahamas; Let's go Bhutan.
car america canada great books
And then there are books.. Which you can't tell people about, books so special and rare and yours that advertising your affection feels like a betrayal.
people affection special advertising betrayal books
But it's not a cancer book, because cancer books suck.
book cancer books
That's the pleasure and challenge of reading great novels; you get to see yourself as others see you and you get to see others as they see themselves.
reading challenge pleasure novels great books
Human existence is temporary and all the knowledge of the universe we acquire will in time be forgotten because there will be no humans left to benefit from any of the stuff we learned. And yet, this doesn't invalidate scientific exploration to me. We seek to understand the universe because it makes our lives better and more rich. Similarly, we tell stories (and think about why and how to tell stories) because it makes human existence richer. Made-up stories matter. They bring us pleasure and solace and nurture empathy by letting us see the world through others' eyes. They also help us to feel unalone, to understand that our grief and joy is shared not just by those around us but by all those who came before us and all those still yet to come.
reading literature time human stories existence world humans nurture universe empathy knowledge joy feel lives grief eyes pleasure exploration understand matter rich forgotten left benefit learned books solace
I thought of the one thing about home that I missed, my dad's study with its built-in, floor-to-ceiling shelves sagging with thick biographies and the black leather chair that kept me just uncomfortable enough to keep from feeling sleepy as I read.
home thought feeling study black read books thing shelves
The Degree to which I am blessed staggers me.. The degree to which I take that for granted shames me.-Streetwalking with Jesus
blessings jesus blessed christian
Suffering can bend
suffering god christian
life writing death language lost
You can't just make me different and then leave
death loss lost leave drunk dying driving
There comes a time when we realize that our parents cannot save themselves or save us, that everyone who wades through time eventually gets dragged out to sea by the undertow- that, in short, we are all going.
death time inspirational parents sea realize save short
I will not tell you our love story, because-like all real love stories-it will die with us, as it should.
death real story love-story die love
Showing 61 to 75 of 468 results
You must log in to post a comment.
There are no comments yet.