“Every reader, as he reads, is actually the reader of himself. The writer’s work is only a kind of optical instrument he provides the reader so he can discern what he might never have seen in himself without this book. The reader’s recognition in himself of what the book says is the proof of the book’s truth.”— Marcel Proust, Time Regained (via mesogeios)
“Though my soul may set in darkness, It will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly To be fearful of the night.”— Sarah Williams, “The Old Astronomer to His Pupil” (via catchawishingstar)
the pride and prejudice musical we deserve:
- darcy doesn’t sing a single note even during conversations where everyone else is singing at him that is until the argument following his first attempt at proposing to lizzy where you can see his restraint fall away
- his first big solo is the letter he writes her
- gelsey bell is mary and the unofficial narrator and she sits down at her piano to describe whats going on but before she can ever reveal her feelings on the matter, starting with that gelsey bell scream, mr bennet comes over and does the whole ‘that’s nice dear but give someone else a turn’
- mr wickham has this huge ballad about how darcy ruined his life and its super melodramatic and touching
- mr collins proposal to lizzy is an absolute bop that he gets so into he forgets for a moment what he’s doing he’s just owning the stage
- wickham has a song where he’s trying to seduce lydia but she’s not even listening she’s just monologuing about how excited she is to get laid
- during darcy’s second proposal he keeps hesitating waiting for lizzy to interrupt him like she has done every time before but she doesn’t say anything until he’s finished
- at the end mary sits down at the piano and right where she’d usually be interrupted, kitty joins her and harmonises
- jane and bingley have the adorable upbeat romantic duet which is just them being super polite like ‘oh so nice to have you here’ ‘so nice to be here’ interspersed with their inner monologue which is just them being like fucking jesus I’m so in love
- the bingley sisters probably have a really cool mean solo
- lady catherine has this terrifying disney villain song in the garden
- there’s for sure a song about ribbon shopping
Leakey’s Bookshop, Inverness. Scotland’s second largest secondhand bookshop, with around 100,000 books. The building, dating back to 1793, used to be a Gaelic church, giving the shop two floors, high ceilings, and beautiful windows.
@perksoftales
“Reading isn’t important because it helps to get you a job. It’s important because it gives you room to exist beyond the reality you’re given. It is how humans merge. How minds connect. Dreams. Empathy. Understanding. Escape.”— Matt Haig, Notes on a Nervous Planet | @wnq-psychology
“Fiction is meant to illuminate, to explode, to refresh.”— John Cheever