> to lose oneself in another’s work is to fail to make a work of your own: only by pushing books away does the writer find her voice. At its root, this is a vision of reading couched in discontent. It is discontent—or, more completely, a sense that any given text is insufficient—that makes us close the book at hand and tilt our head back in thought. This from the incredible mandy brown of aworkinglibrary.com, talking about a guy named Bayard, but it totally reminds me of when bukowski said ultimately, another writer's writing has to eventually disappoint. my god, it's so freaking connected and like how I told the am lit kids that when I read Whitman it's like whiskey bc I have to stop and think and look around and have a flight of fancy or two. and I was secretly feeling guiltily inadequate for my inability to concentrate and be absorbed like a proper scholar, but now I'm not. (2016)