“I don’t know anything about new novels. I only like old ones, mostly from the nineteenth century. Ones I’ve read before.” “What’s wrong with new novels?” “I guess I’m afraid of being disappointed. Reading trashy novels makes me feel I’m wasting time. It wasn’t always that way. I used to have lots of time, so even though I knew they were junk, I still felt something good would come from reading them. Now it’s different. Must be getting old.” p. 102 South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami
“only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language.” Northanger Alley (Chapter 5) by Jane Austen