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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 17h

"Memory likes to refer to blind spots. What has struck turns up uncalled for, under various guises; it enjoys disguise. Often it gives only vague information. Moreover, its mesh is sometimes large, sometimes small. Scraps of feeling and though literally fall through it." – Günter Grass #botd #books

Book cover. Günter Grass, Peeling the Onion: A Memoir

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 23h

"The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame." – Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray #botd #books #literature

Book cover. Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

"Arriving at each new city, the traveler finds again a past of his that he did not know he had: the foreignness of what you no longer are or no longer possess lies in wait for you in foreign, unpossessed places." – Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities #botd #books #literature

Book cover. Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

"love is more thicker than forget more thinner than recall more seldom than a wave is wet more frequent than to fail" – e. e. cummings #botd #books #literature #poetry

Book cover. e.e. cummings, 100 Selected Poems

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

"As far as the eye could reach, this lonely forest sea rolled on and on till its faint blue billows broke against an incredibly distant horizon." – Conrad Richter, The Trees #botd #books #literature

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

"Schoolteachers can be some hard-eyed people, with talkin eyes; they mouth sayin one thing and them eyes be screamin another." – Alice Childress, A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich #botd #books #literature #plays

Book cover. Alice Childress, A Hero Ain't Nothing but a Sandwich

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

"There are no hard distinctions between what is real and what is unreal, nor between what is true and what is false. A thing is not necessarily either true or false; it can be both true and false." – Harold Pinter #botd #books #literature #plays #nobelprizeinliterature

Book cover. Harold Pinter, The Birthday Party and The Room

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

"My Poetry explains nothing clarifies nothing renounces nothing embraces no whole fulfills no hope creates no new rules of the game takes no part in play has a fixed territory which it must fill" – Tadeusz Różewicz #botd #books #poetry #literature

Book cover. Tadeusz Różewicz, Sobbing Superpower: Selected Poems of Tadeusz Różewicz

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

"We take unholy risks to prove we are what we cannot be. For instance, I am not even crazy." – Amiri Baraka #botd #books #literature #poetry #plays

Book cover. Amiri Baraka, SOS: Poems, 1961-2013

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

"For I have known them all already, known them all: Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons" – T. S. Eliot #botd #books #literature #poetry

Book cover. T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land and Other Poems

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

"When Iola opened her school she took pains to get acquainted with the parents of the children, and she gained their confidence and co-operation. Her face was a passport to their hearts. Ignorant of books, human faces were the scrolls from which they had been reading for ages." – Frances E.W. Harper

Book cover. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Iola Leroy

Author photo. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

"May I not be denied the time once more to kiss the hands of the one who patiently and in step with me walked on and on and on and who loved most of all." – Jaroslav Seifert, "Autobiography" #books #literature #poetry #nobellaureate

Book cover. Jaroslav Seifert, The Early Poetry of Jaroslav Seifert

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

“Fools, educated or not, will resent you for what you know. A woman like me is mistrusted and despised for her cleverness, feared by you because your fear’s misplaced.” – Euripides, Medea #botd #books #literature #plays

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

"One could not stand and watch very long without becoming philosophical, without beginning to deal in symbols and similes, and to hear the hog squeal of the universe." – Upton Sinclair, b. Sept. 20, 1878 #books #literature

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

"Nature never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless. There is no intelligence where there is no change and no need of change." – H. G. Wells, The Time Machine #botd #books #literature

Book cover. H. G. Wells, The Time Machine

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

"What do we remember that was shaped as this thing is shaped? while their eyes fill with tears. By which and by the weak wash of crimson colors it, the rose is predicated" – William Carlos Williams #botd #books #literature #poetry #imagism #modernism

Book cover. William Carlos Williams, Paterson

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

"A touch of cold in the Autumn night— I walked abroad" – T. E. Hulme, "Autumn" Influential as poet and critic to the Imagist movement – Ezra Pound included a section in his book Ripostes to Hulme's poetry. #botd #poetry #literature #books #poetry #imagism #modernism

Book cover. Ezra Pound, Ripostes of Ezra Pound Whereto Are Appended the Complete Poetical Works of T. E. Hulme, with Prefatory Note

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

"All greatness of character is dependent on individuality. The man who has no other existence than that which he partakes in common with all around him, will never have any other than an existence of mediocrity." – James Fenimore Cooper, The American Democrat #botd #books #literature

Book cover. James Fenimore Cooper, The Leatherstocking Tales I: The Pioneers, The Last of the Mohicans, The Prairie

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Dropped off another box of Great Detective! books at @wonderlandbookss.bsky.social the other day. If you're in the DC area this weekend or next, stop by Wonderland Books to pick up a copy or just come and browse! Or visit press.historyofliterature.com to get a copy.

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

"Thus borne from bad to worse, without a rein, I cannot the unbridled beast arrest; Who makes me see I to destruction haste, That I more bitterness in death may taste." – Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso #botd #books #literature #poetry

Book cover. Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, Part One

Book cover. Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, Part Two

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

In Episode 828, @jackewilson.bsky.social talks with Rachel Pastan about her role as literary director of the recently opened independent bookstore Celia Bookshop in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. #books #literature #independentbookstores

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

"When one really knows a village like this and its surroundings, it is like becoming acquainted with a single person. The process of falling in love at first sight is as final as it is swift in such a case, but the growth of true friendship may be a lifelong affair." – Sarah Orne Jewett #botd #books

Book cover. Sarah Orne Jewett, The Country of the Pointed Firs and Other Stories

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

“Democracy is the most fragile thing on earth, for what does it rest upon? You and me, and the fact that we agree to maintain it." – Allen Drury #botd #books #literature #politics

Book cover. Allen Drury, Advise and Consent

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

"A crowd enfevered by the toil that pays Jostles and disappears down long passageways. The dim sun, in the roofs’ plumed confusion—it Is your Face soiled with spit." – Blaise Cendrars #botd #books #literature #poetry

Book cover. Blaise Cendrars, Complete Poems

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

"One should never write down or up to people, but out of yourself." – Christopher Isherwood #botd For more about Isherwood, take a listen to HOL Episode 724, in which @jackewilson.bsky.social talks to biographer Jake Poller. #books #literature @reaktionbooks.bsky.social

Book cover. Christopher Isherwood, The Berlin Stories

Book cover. Jack Poller, Critical Lives: Christopher Isherwood

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

"If, of all words of tongue and pen, The saddest are, 'It might have been,' More sad are these we daily see: 'It is, but hadn't ought to be.'" – Bret Harte #botd #books #literature #poetry

Book cover. Bret Harte, The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Writings

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

"Here lies resting, out of breath, Out of turns, Elizabeth Whose quicksilver toes not quite Cleared the whirring edge of night." – X. J. Kennedy, "Little Elegy" #botd #books #literature #poetry

Book cover. X. J. Kennedy, In a Prominent Bar in Secaucus

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

"However much everything else is distorted The dead can never be sold. Italy is my country, o stranger, It is of its people I sing, and of the sound Of secret lamentation that comes from its sea, I sing of its mothers’ chaste grief, of all its life." – Salvatore Quasimodo #botd #books #poetry

Book cover. Salvatore Quasimodo, Complete Poems

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

"Tell me not what I never had, but what I have, and what I shall have." – Samuel Richardson, Clarissa #botd #books #literature

Book cover. Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

“There, like animals lying in hibernation, my memories shake themselves awake when I call out to them and they move towards me with velvety, solemn steps, staring at me with their treacherous, meek eyes in which are written denial and remorse." – Elsa Morante #botd #books #literature

Book cover. Elsa Morante, Lies and Sorcery

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

"Still the scent as of warm strawberries, still the little summer sounds that should make his song; still all the promise of youth and happiness in sighing, floating, fluttering July—and his heart torn" – John Galsworthy, The Forsyte Saga #books #literature

Book cover. John Galsworthy, The Forsyte Saga

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

"Her daylight courage and self-importance, and her shuddering delight in the mystery, irritated me beyond words." – Mary Roberts Rinehart, The Circular Staircase #botd #literature #books #mysteries

Book cover. Mary Roberts Rinehart, The Circular Staircase

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

"Soon fly the leaves in throngs. O love, though once I lay Far from its sound to weep, When night divides my sleep, When stars, the autumn stream, Stillness, divide my dream, Night to your voice belongs." – Louise Bogan, "Song for a Lyre" #botd #poetry #literature #books

Book cover. Louise Bogan, The Blue Estuaries

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

"The perception of a character in a story written with compassion is, for both the reader and the writer, a perception closer to divine than human." – Andre Dubus, "At the Algonquin" #botd #books #literature #stories

Book cover. Andre Dubus, Selected Stories

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

"If my soul must go alone Through a cold infinity, Or even if it vanish, too, Beauty, I have worshipped you. Let this single hour atone For the theft of all of me." – Sara Teasdale, "August Moonrise" #botd #literature #books #poetry

Book cover. The Collected Poems of Sara Teasdale

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

"Why are we weigh'd upon with heaviness, And utterly consumed with sharp distress, While all things else have rest from weariness? All things have rest: why should we toil alone, We only toil, who are the first of things" – Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "The Lotos-eaters" #botd #literature #books #poetry

Book cover. Alfred Lord Tennyson, Selected Poems

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

"How quietly I begin again from this moment looking at the clock, I start over so much time has passed, and is equaled by whatever split-second is present from this moment this moment is the first" – Wendell Berry, "Be Still in Haste" #botd #books #poetry #literature

Book cover. The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

"A country is considered the more civilised the more the wisdom and efficiency of its laws hinder a weak man from becoming too weak and a powerful one too powerful." – Primo Levi #botd #books #literature #history

Book cover. Primo Levi, If This is a Man / The Truce

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

"There is no country in the world in which everything can be provided for by laws, or in which political institutions can prove a substitute for common sense and public morality." – Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America #botd #books #history

Book cover. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America and Two Essays on America

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

"Each image fits into place, with the calm Of not having too many, of having just enough. We live in the sigh of our present." – John Ashbery, "Blue Sonata" #botd #books #literature

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

"Books give not wisdom where none was before. But where some is, there reading makes it more." – Elizabeth Hardwick #botd #books #literature

Book cover. Elizabeth Hardwick, The New York Stories

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

"The sight of an old man clinging to life with so desperate a courage, gave a fresh turn to his ideas, and inspired him with new courage." – Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo #botd #books #literature #alexandredumas

Book cover. Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

"To use the majesty of law for revenging any petty act of private spite is to make a public confession of weakness, cowardice and an ignoble spirit." – Robert Graves, I, Claudius #botd #books #literature

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

"Time makes everything mean and shabby and wrinkled. The tragedy of life, Howard, is not that the beautiful things die young, but that they grow old and mean." – Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye #botd #books #literature #crimefiction

Book cover. Raymond Chandler, The Long Good-Bye

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

"Love easily confuses us because it is always in flux between illusion and substance, between memory and wish, between contentment and need." – Tom Robbins, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues #botd #books #literature

Book cover. Tom Robbins, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

"Yes, life could at times be so brutal that the only things that made it livable were dreams." – Buchi Emecheta, The Joys of Motherhood #botd #books #literature

Book cover. Buchi Emecheta, The Joys of Motherhood

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Great Detective! An Adventure for Two People by Jacke Wilson is now available at Wonderland Books in Bethesda, MD. #books #literature #indiebookstores @wonderlandbookss.bsky.social

Book cover. Great Detective! An Adventure for Two People, by Jacke Wilson

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

"If there be sorrow let it be for things undone undreamed unrealized unattained to these add one: Love withheld ... restrained” – Mari Evans, b. July 16, 1919 #books #literature #poetry

Book cover. Mari Evans, Continuum: New and Selected Poems

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

"Time, like the sea, unties all knots. Judgements on people are never final, they emerge from summings up which at once suggest the need of a reconsideration." – Iris Murdoch #botd #books #literature

Book cover. Iris Murdoch, The Sea, the Sea

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The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

"It was the month of July and the streets of Turin were hot and deserted, the asphalt was melting and stuck to your shoes, Anna walked along very slowly on this burning asphalt with a bag of cherries and ate them as she looked into the shop windows." – Natalia Ginzburg #botd #books #literature

Book cover. Natalia Ginzburg, All Our Yesterdays

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