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Posts tagged: books

As one of those weirdo’s not in the Harry Potter maelstrom, I am confused.

Has someone explained Death of the Author to this supposedly great writer of our (postmodern) time?

Because I am getting a serious Night of the Living Dead vibe from this. As in maybe (figurative) shotguns should be more involved.

wish fulfillment is publicly recanting your published novel plot years later

And yes I know Dickens tried to do it in Great Expectations, but does anyone remember how that worked out? Badly. It worked out badly and was not taken well.

The written word is all that stands between memory and oblivion. Without books as our anchors, we are cast adrift, neither teaching nor learning. They are windows on the past, mirrors on the present, and prisms reflecting all possible futures. Books are lighthouses erected in the dark sea of time.

Mothafreakin’ Disney’s Gargoyles, Season 2, Episode 4, “A Lighthouse In The Sea of Time.”

I know, right?

(via theirishcowgirl)

fishingboatproceeds:

undocumentedny:

theysayimpsychodiaries:

beyonceremix:

Chimamanda Adichie - The Danger of a Single Story (TED Talks 2009)

Tell me again, what did you say about representation not being important?

This gifset goes perfectly with an article I just read. This is why media representation is so important. Because it brainwashes our children to not even see themselves in their OWN stories.

Just read Adichie’s new novel Americanah, which I highly recommend. Great book, and not too much weather in it.

My 5-year-old insists that Bilbo Baggins is a girl.

The first time she made this claim, I protested. Part of the fun of reading to your kids, after all, is in sharing the stories you loved as a child. And in the story I knew, Bilbo was a boy. A boy hobbit. (Whatever that entails.)

But my daughter was determined. She liked the story pretty well so far, but Bilbo was definitely a girl. So would I please start reading the book the right way? I hesitated. I imagined Tolkien spinning in his grave. I imagined mean letters from his testy estate. I imagined the story getting as lost in gender distinctions as dwarves in the Mirkwood.

Then I thought: What the hell, it’s just a pronoun. My daughter wants Bilbo to be a girl, so a girl she will be. And you know what? The switch was easy. Bilbo, it turns out, makes a terrific heroine. She’s tough, resourceful, humble, funny, and uses her wits to make off with a spectacular piece of jewelry. Perhaps most importantly, she never makes an issue of her gender—and neither does anyone else.