It is in my opinion, that it is vitally important to read. Not only for enjoyment and pleasure, but for understanding, for clarity, for escape. Finding a beautiful literary work is complicated because it touches each individual in a different way. Some can resonate with the style of writing or the content. Others enjoy the natural flow or patterns of the words. I am convinced that some of my favorite reads have been ones that somehow capture my thoughts or behaviors in some fashion, whether it be to a mild degree or an overwhelming pulse of creativity. Those types of stories are the ones that I feel as though I have read before. Of course, I haven’t, but the words and the feelings are so familiar to my brain that it seems possible.

One of my favorite authors is Jonathan Safran Foer. Before I knew of Mr. Foer, one of my favorite movies had been (and still is) Everything is Illuminated. Little did I know that this movie was based on one of Foer’s books. Ironic. Recently, the New Yorker feautured a short piece of Foer’s writing, which I fell in love with. It’s called, “Here We Aren’t, So Quickly”

I snipped some of my favorite lines from it and am posting them here, as I have been meaning to for a while. There’s actually a lot of snippets, but they’re all beautiful. Forgive me for the half lines at the beginnings and ends of paragraphs. Not intentional, but unavoidable.

(Not my art. Also from the New Yorker)