Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Beers & Books LXXVIII – Ian Rankin

"I don't have many friends.
It's not because I'm a misanthrope.
It's because I'm reserved. I'm self-contained.
I get all my adventures in my head
when I'm writing my books."

Ian Rankin *28 April 1960

Beers & Books LXXVII – Roberto Bolaño

Literature is a vast forest
and the masterpieces are the lakes,
the towering trees or strange trees,
the lovely eloquent flowers, the hidden caves,
but a forest is also made up of ordinary trees,
patches of grass, puddles,
clinging vines, mushrooms and little wildflowers.

Roberto Bolaño (28 April 1953 – 15 July 2003)

Beers & Books LXXVI – Terry Pratchett

Truthfully,
without over-egging it, as I often do,
the library and journalism,
those things made me who I am.

Terry Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015)

Monday, April 26, 2021

Sunday, April 25, 2021

Milva



Milva (17 July 1939 – 23 April 2021)

Saturday, April 24, 2021

Beers & Books LXXV – Anthony Trollope

Three hours a day
will produce as much as a man ought to write.

Anthony Trollope (24 April 1815 – 6 Dezember 1882)


Friday, April 23, 2021

Beers & Books LXXIV – Halldór Laxness

Love of, and respect for, the humble routine
of everyday life and its creatures
was the only moral commandment
which carried conviction when I was a child.

Halldór Laxness (23. April 1902 in Reykjavík – 8. Februar 1998)

Thursday, April 22, 2021

Beers & Books LXXIII– María Zambrano

“La palabra es libertad.”

The Intellectuals
in Spain's Drama

(written 1936/37)

 María Zambrano 22 April 1904 – 6 February 1991)

Beers & Books LXXII – Henry Fielding

"The prudence of the best heads
is often defeated
by the tenderness of the best hearts."

Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754)

Monday, April 19, 2021

Saturday, April 17, 2021

Beers & Books LXXI – Gabriel García Márquez

In journalism just one fact
that is false prejudices the entire work.
In contrast,
in fiction one single fact that is true
gives legitimacy to the entire work
That's the only difference,
and it lies in the commitment of the writer.
A novelist can do anything he wants
so long as he makes people believe in it.

Gabriel García Márquez (6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014)

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Beers & Books LXX – Seamus Heaney

"I've always associated the moment of writing
with a moment of lift, of joy,
of unexpected reward."

North (1975), Station Island (1984),
The Government of the Tongue (1986),
The Redress of Poetry (1995),
The Spirit Level (1996),
The Blackbird of Glanmore (Poems 1965 – 2006)

 Seamus Heaney (13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013)

Beers & Books LXIX– Samuel Beckett

James Joyce was a synthesizer,
trying to bring in as much as he could.
I am an analyzer,
trying to leave out as much as I can.

 Samuel Beckett (13 April 1906 – 22 November 1989)

Monday, April 12, 2021

Monday, April 05, 2021

Beers & Books LXVI – Bora Ćosić

 

To my surprise,
obviously none of his works
got translated into English.

Bora Ćosić
* 5 April 1932

Sunday, April 04, 2021

Beers & Books LXV – Lautréamont

The great universal family of men
is a utopia worthy of the most mediocre logic.

Lautréamont aka Isidore Lucien Decasse (4 April 1846 – 24 November 1870) 

Les Chants de Maldoror