464 books
—
517 voters
read
(1046)
currently-reading (4)
to-read (318)
did-not-finish (11)
fiction (413)
history (249)
horror-and-dark-fiction (207)
poetry (194)
non-fiction (165)
crime-badness-noir (148)
sci-fi-and-fantasy (127)
biography-autobiography (117)
currently-reading (4)
to-read (318)
did-not-finish (11)
fiction (413)
history (249)
horror-and-dark-fiction (207)
poetry (194)
non-fiction (165)
crime-badness-noir (148)
sci-fi-and-fantasy (127)
biography-autobiography (117)
war
(95)
e-books (58)
christianity-religion (55)
journalism (46)
favorites (43)
letters-memoirs-essays (39)
lit-crit (38)
rock-dreams-and-lost-highways (38)
westerns (32)
weird-stuff-ufos-paranormal-etc (29)
exploration-travel (27)
2d-readings-the-good-stuff (26)
e-books (58)
christianity-religion (55)
journalism (46)
favorites (43)
letters-memoirs-essays (39)
lit-crit (38)
rock-dreams-and-lost-highways (38)
westerns (32)
weird-stuff-ufos-paranormal-etc (29)
exploration-travel (27)
2d-readings-the-good-stuff (26)
![Loading... Loading...](https://cdn.statically.io/img/s.gr-assets.com/assets/loading_big-5baaead7062b26142a19d19a9bccf5c2.gif)
![T.S. Eliot](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1612500008i/18540._UX200_CR0,90,200,200_.jpg)
“If you came this way,
Taking any route, starting from anywhere,
At any time or at any season,
It would always be the same: you would have to put off
Sense and notion. You are not here to verify,
Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity
Or carry report. You are here to kneel
Where prayer has been valid. And prayer is more
Than an order of words, the conscious occupation
Of the praying mind, or the sound of the voice praying.
And what the dead had no speech for, when living,
They can tell you, being dead: the communication
Of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.”
― Little Gidding
Taking any route, starting from anywhere,
At any time or at any season,
It would always be the same: you would have to put off
Sense and notion. You are not here to verify,
Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity
Or carry report. You are here to kneel
Where prayer has been valid. And prayer is more
Than an order of words, the conscious occupation
Of the praying mind, or the sound of the voice praying.
And what the dead had no speech for, when living,
They can tell you, being dead: the communication
Of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.”
― Little Gidding
![Nick Cave](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1485231835i/38697._UY200_CR2,0,200,200_.jpg)
“Hope is optimism with a broken heart.”
― Faith, Hope and Carnage
― Faith, Hope and Carnage
![Alice Oswald](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1326108927i/275246._UX200_CR0,35,200,200_.jpg)
“And HECTOR died like everyone else
He was in charge of the Trojans
But a spear found out the little patch of white
Between his collarbone and his throat
Just exactly where a man's soul sits
Waiting for the mouth to open
He always knew it would happen
He who was so boastful and anxious
And used to nip home deafened by weapons
To stand in full armour in the doorway
Like a man rushing in leaving his motorbike running
All women loved him
His wife was Andromache
One day he looked at her quietly
He said I know what will happen
And an image stared at him of himself dead
And her in Argos weaving for some foreign woman
He blinked and went back to his work
Hector loved Andromache
But in the end he let her face slide from his mind
He came back to her sightless
Strengthless expressionless
Asking only to be washed and burned
And his bones wrapped in soft cloths
And returned to the ground”
― Memorial: An Excavation of the Iliad
He was in charge of the Trojans
But a spear found out the little patch of white
Between his collarbone and his throat
Just exactly where a man's soul sits
Waiting for the mouth to open
He always knew it would happen
He who was so boastful and anxious
And used to nip home deafened by weapons
To stand in full armour in the doorway
Like a man rushing in leaving his motorbike running
All women loved him
His wife was Andromache
One day he looked at her quietly
He said I know what will happen
And an image stared at him of himself dead
And her in Argos weaving for some foreign woman
He blinked and went back to his work
Hector loved Andromache
But in the end he let her face slide from his mind
He came back to her sightless
Strengthless expressionless
Asking only to be washed and burned
And his bones wrapped in soft cloths
And returned to the ground”
― Memorial: An Excavation of the Iliad
![Paul Lynch](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1571316820i/446744._UY200_CR49,0,200,200_.jpg)
“[They are] trying to change what you and I call reality, they want to muddy it like water, if you say it enough times, then it must be so, and if you keep saying it over and over people accept it as true -- this is an old idea of course, it really is nothing new, but you're watching in your own time and not in a book.”
― Prophet Song
― Prophet Song
![Virginia Woolf](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1419596619i/6765._UX200_CR0,36,200,200_.jpg)
“One leaps out of bed, throws up the window; with what a whirr the birds rise! You know that sudden rush of wings, that exclamation, carol, and confusion; the riot and babble of voices; and all the drops are sparkling, trembling, as if the garden were a splintered mosaic, vanishing, twinkling; not yet formed into one whole; and a bird sings close to the window.”
― The Waves
― The Waves
![28172](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/groups/1262091180p1/28172.jpg)
Let's talk about poetry books. This group's members read poetry collections, with the goal of reviewing twenty in a year. C'mon. Do it. It's good for ...more
![233](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/groups/1182288212p1/233.jpg)
No pretensions: just poetry. Stop by, recommend books, offer up poems (excerpted), tempt us, taunt us, tell us what to read and where to go (to read ...more
![37633](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/groups/1283430576p1/37633.jpg)
Do you like your horror on the aged side? This group is for readers who love older/classic horror stories and books. Generally, horror published befor ...more
![6433](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/groups/1217837954p1/6433.jpg)
A group for fans of the great Pulp Magazines of the 20's through the 50's. Included but not restricted to Weird Tales, Black Mask, Astounding, Adventu ...more
![220](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/groups/1269147049p1/220.jpg)
Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra ...more
Steve’s 2023 Year in Books
Take a look at Steve’s Year in Books. The good, the bad, the long, the short—it’s all here.
More friends…
Polls voted on by Steve
Lists liked by Steve