“When she mentions Richard Ford, I ask if she’s heard of his dead-rabbit-swerve philosophy—of how, if one is to review books, there’s no sense in reviewing a book one doesn’t like. It’s akin to driving down the road and swerving the car in order to run over a rabbit.”
– Rick Bass, Travelling Feast
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“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity. Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer”
– Simone Weil, quoted in EMBRACE FEARLESSLY THE BURNING WORLD: Essays, by Barry Lopez.
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For all the books that I’ve read, and continue to read, I’ve never written a review.
However I always leave a five star rating when I finish a book on my kindle.
And it will always be five stars.
If I’ve invested in, and chosen to spend four or five hours reading a book, it has to be five stars.
I value my time too much to read something that I don’t value.
So if I’m giving a book three stars, all I’m really doing is giving myself three stars for my attention.
I want to give everything five star attention.
A five star book, for me, is one that is the most precious, illuminating, actionable, and profound thing that I could read at that time.
My book selection is instinctive. An energy is transmitted that cannot be quantified.
And if the book doesn’t give me that feeling, I’ll stop reading, leaving it unread forever.
It’s a readers market. I can always find another great, inexpensive, book to replace the mediocre.
I only want to have positive things to say about books.
Conversations With Quotations 