Joseph Joubert:
The great inconvenience of new books is that they prevent us from reading old books.Also from Joseph Joubert
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert: A Selection , trans. Paul Auster (New York: New York Review Books, 2005).
Another world : Form and content : Irrelevancies and solid objects : Lives and writings : Politeness : Resignation and courage : Self-love and truth : Thinking and writing
comments: 2
I agree. For the most part I avoid getting sucked into new-release hype (one of the most ridiculous instances of which I remember is the NYT saying that George Saunders' Tenth of December was "the best book you'll read this year" - this was stated in a January!), especially since I've ultimately found most of the critics' darlings to be underwhelming. It's another reason for my annual Summer of Classics - nothing but books that are at least fifty years old, most of which I've been sorely remiss in not having read yet. Last summer I read nothing but Melville, and this summer will be Steinbeck.
I think the best book I’ve read this year is Lucy Gayheart (1935).
I’d have thought a writer might be embarrassed by that NYT bit, but no, I see that it’s front and center on George Saunders’s website. Then again, that might be his publisher’s doing.
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