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He alludes to classical works and other poems in his work, which is very common in poetry and literature in general, almost a way of having a conversation.

It's not plagiarism; he wasn't trying to pass off another person's work as his own, and critics and readers of his time were well aware of that.

This is more specifically the intrigue-ridden correspondence Eliot had with his longtime muse and mistress, one of the most significant people in his life.

He's not much of a writer IMO. You churn out a hundred or so attempts, you'd be really pathetic not hit a few out of the park, so many of his books are just terrible though. The plot is absurd, the writing is subpar at the very best, but the concept/premise of a lot of his writing IS good. He's just not the one to pull it off. For me his only good works were a half dozen short stories from his collections, I think he did an outer limits episode (sand kings ??) And Christine. His second attempt at a car novel blew chunks, A Buick from 8 or something. Interesting premise but no conclusion, or even very much plot between pages 5 and 5 from the end.

Much appreciated, that was a very interesting read

Yeah I absolutely agree with this, listening to the audiobook definitely gave me this impression and was part of the reason I loved it so much, as I love music documentaries like that

It's all cute but what truly matters is IS IT WEIRD.....?

I sympathise with this. All the books I bought for myself are hardcovers except those I couldn't find them in this format and I had to buy paperbacks. I like the feeling of reading hardcovers and they sit much better on the shelf and they seem to deform less when read (spines on paperbacks are terrible).

Very glad to see On Writing get a mention here. That book is still the only book which I have bought multiple paperback copies of, just so I could gift them to my friends, and I did that more than ten times. On Writing is so good, and never gets mentioned enough anywhere.

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I'm nearly 50 myself. In my 20's and early 30's for some reason I had this fear that if I wasn't putting myself out there, socializing, being with people that I was wasting my time, or my youth. Obviously, in hindsight, that was an irrational fear based on nothing but my own (usually low) self esteem. Eventually, I met the right woman, now my wife, and realized how stupid that thinking was and am now perfectly comfortable with myself and the things I want to do... namely being a voracious reader. It was just a folly of youth, that's all.

I started to read them today.

I think they are beautiful, which makes me sad that he felt the need to release a statement that he never loved her.

That makes 1 of 2 things the truth - 1) everything he ever wrote to her was bullshit, or 2) he did love her and lied to save face.

I think this was posted as a lighthearted list of things that many readers would look at and laugh or smile in recognition that at different times we might want do one or all of these things. As opposed to trying to impose some kind of rules on people or trying to turn reading "into a toxic fandom," which, it seems, you are the only one doing.

The rest of us are just smiling and laughing and having fun with this. :)

So much this, when people ask me what I’m up to and I tell them I’m reading a book and they say “oh, so you’re free?”

Uh… no? I just told you what I was doing.

King's IT displays some of finest character development that I've ever seen in any book by any author. If the tale seems overly long to you, this reveals a truth about both your limits and your patience as a reader. And while I have no desire to reread that tale again any time soon, I am glad that I experienced the tale when I did (I was in my late 30s, instead of being in junior high school when most of my other friends were reading the tale and having sleepless nights because of how scary the tale is in certain chapters.)

Most times that's the author's choice.

Ever since I re-read the books as an adult I would say Dumbledore. We get bits and pieces where its serves the story and there is a bit more on pottermore but I think that once you read the book as an adult you realize that his story arc could be a stand alone series and he could be developed into a really interesting anti-hero if the book was for adults. I would love to understand more about his thoughts, his (at times) almost Machiavellian scheming as well as his development.

Why would you feel guilty for that? That concept never even crossed my mind and I’m over 50.

Obligatory Lily Potter

Agreed, it's really a quality of life issue and the misconceptions of youth that the quality of life is all about being with other people, doing people things, but that's not necessarily the case... as we find out only by doing those things and experiencing a poorer quality of life. Youth truly is wasted on the young, as they say!

According to my google search Bovary-ism (or Bovarysme) denotes a tendency towards escapist daydreaming in which the dreamer imagines themself to be a hero or heroine in a romance, whilst ignoring the everyday realities of the situation. The eponymous Madame Bovary is an example of this.

Welcome to Steinbeck. He's my favorite author.

I'm trying to get my mother to read and be more mentally active in retirement, so I got her Of Mice and Men.

On Saturday I get a call and she said "yes I'm crying don't give me anymore books". She liked it though. Might need to find something more cheerful for the next one.

Steinbeck is the GOAT.

My favorite underrated character is actually anyone reading another book! Put this in the Harry Potter sub if you must keep propagating fandom for terf content, not here.

Seamus Finnigan