Italo Calvino (1923-1985) was an Italian novelist and journalist. He wrote several essays on literature and writing. This quote was taken from “Why read the classics?” (1986 – read it online here).
A thought by Italo Calvino
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Tag Archives: Books
A thought by Laura Ward Branca
Laura Ward Branca is an African-Armenian American cookbook author and civil rights activist. She is on the board of the Moosewood vegetarian restaurant in Ithaca, NY, named by Bon Appetit magazine as ” one of the thirteen most influential restaurants of the 20th Century”, and she works with the Dorothy Cotton Institute, an institute offering popular education and training to inspire and support people who want to foster and protect human rights and to advance civic participation for social transformation. Founder Dorothy Cotton worked with Dr. Martin Luther King.
A thought by M.F.K. Fisher
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Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher (1908-1992) was one of the first great food writers of the 20th century. She wrote essays, memoir and travel pieces of her life in the USA and France, where she spent several years. Interestingly, though, she did not think of herself as a “food writer”. In the foreword to The Gastronomical Me (1943), she explained: “When I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love of it and the hunger for it.”
When I read this line in one of my Food Studies Master’s classes, a door opened for me. Food in itself is wonderful, but what drew me to working in bars and restaurants as a teenager and all through my twenties was the human theatre that played out there every night, celebration, romance, heartbreak, redemption, business. There had been books and scholarly articles examining and affirming my impression, but here for the first time was someone who celebrated it through words, which are after all my other great passion. And I realised I had found my corner in the food world, my tribe.
A thought by Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was a US-American philosopher, essayist and poet who led the Transcendentalist movement of the early 19th century. The Transcendentalists combined Western Romantic and Idealist ideas with Eastern (Hindu) philosophy. They were strongly focused on the human individual, which they believed to be essentially good and true, and saw great value in the communion with Nature, which they viewed also in a spiritual and sometimes even mystic way. Unspoiled nature and the unspoiled, free and self-reliant individual were their ideals. The Transcendentalists were probably the first great intellectual movement in the USA. Other prominent Transcendentalists include Henry David Thoreau (Walden) and Louisa May Alcott (Little Women).
Transcendentalist thought influenced the poet Walt Whitman in the 19th century, and formed a strong legacy for 20th century American art and literature movements, such as the Beat poets (Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac…).
A thought from To Kill A Mockingbird
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To Kill A Mockingbird is the 1960 novel by Harper Lee. Set in a small town in Alabama, it tells the story of the trial and wrongful conviction of a black man, seen through the eyes of the six-year-old daughter of the defence lawyer. Through the child’s perspective, we witness a range of prejudices and injustices – racial, sexual, social – that are woven through the social fabric of this fictional town.
Harper Lee came from a family of lawyers and studied law herself, and it shows in the novel. The court scenes are very detailed, and the law and justice are held up throughout the book as important values.
The quote above is said by the little girl when she starts school and a teacher who is dismayed that the girl can read already forbids her to read in school.
A thought by Aldous Huxley
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Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He is best known for his dystopian novel Brave New World and his mescaline-fuelled philosophical essay The Doors of Perception, which among other things inspired the equally drug-fuelled band The Doors.
Other novels of his have such fabulous names as Those Barren Leaves, Eyeless in Gaza and Antic Hay. I have read a few of them, and they generally seem to feature young British expats around the Mediterranean afflicted with boredom and malaise… capturing the spirit of the interwar years in Europe. Good to read by the pool or on the sun-soaked terrace of a Tuscan country villa.
A thought by Fernando Pessoa
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Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) was a Portuguese poet and writer much venerated in his native country. He liked to spend his time in cafés and bars around Lisbon, so they built him a statue outside the Café A Brasileira, and I think in one of the cafés, they still keep his favourite table for him. I must confirm that though next time I’m in town.
Book Fix Lisbon – Bookshop Bivar
Where to find books in English in Lisbon?
No. 1 – Bookshop Bivar in Estefânia. All-English secondhand books. Browsing recommended!
Tucked away on a hill in a residential neighbourhood with winding narrow streets, I only found it because I was lost, but it’s worth the hike. A few bookshelves, a table, a counter and a big, inviting couch – it doesn’t take a lot of fancy trimmings to open a bookstore. The books themselves lend a merry atmosphere with their colourful spines on the white shelves. A few potted plants and someone friendly to help the customers with their queries about books for school, for beach-reading or to satisfy their book cravings, and you’re away.
A thought by Jeanette Winterson
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Jeanette Winterson (*1959) is a writer and professor of creative writing. She is the author of several semi-autobiographical books; the first among them was Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. Her books often have a near magical-realist feel, as they often feature highly symbolic elements, which fit her family background rooted in Pentecostal Christianity with its focus on spirituality, miracles, sin and other topics outside of the mundane, daily world. Her book titles sometimes feature fruit (oranges, cherries…) but again, they are used symbolically. Not as food writing, unfortunately.
A thought by Anthony Bourdain
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Spoons and Books 