kristen

[welovewaves]

Ｎｉｇｈｔ　ｓｐａｃｅ　-ィ悦

by  Seppuku_Doge

[macrolit]

Santa in a New York City Diner, 1962 Photographer: Leonard McCombe

[macrolit]

“I hate the word homophobia. It’s not a phobia. You’re not scared. You’re an asshole.”

— Morgan Freeman (1937- ) American actor, director, and narrator

[macrolit]

You may have confidence. But you ain’t got Winston Churchill’s grandson confidence.

[luvvvie]

i love you thisss much

[aqua-regia009]

Head of Medusa (1617-1618) by Peter Paul Rubens

[preciouslittlemoleskine]

Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall. Queens of Screams.

[recovering-suggestions]

I’ve seen a lot of people talk about how they want to be okay, feel better, and I’m gonna drop some knowledge on you right now. Just the fact that you want to feel okay means you’re getting better. You saying ‘this isn’t where I want to be in life’ means you are looking forward, looking to get better. And just that little bit of motivation means that you are okay, because you’re still alive and still looking forward. You haven’t lost hope yet, and I’m sure that’s better compared to where you used to be. I believe in you. Keep getting better.

[krisstenb]

🐍

[macrolit]

“I cannot believe in a God who wants to be praised all the time.”

— Friedrich Nietzsche (b. 15 October 1844)

[macrolit]

“One of the saddest things in life is that the only thing we can do for eight hours a day, day after day, is work. We can’t eat for eight hours a day, nor make love for eight hours a day. All we can do for eight hours a day is work.”

— The Greatest Miracle in the World, Og Mandino

[jeou]

[anklerry-deactivated20230120]

why am i crying????

[macrolit]

How do you fund this blog? I find it unlikely (though not impossible) that you're just a random bibliophile accumulating and distributing classics to the entire world.

Actually, you’re exactly right – I am just a random bibliophile accumulating and distributing classics to the entire world. :) In the last two-and-a-half years I’ve given away over 250 classics, and they’ve been sent to something like a dozen different countries (usually 10 books at a time). I can keep the cost of the books somewhat in check by finding them at library sales, but the shipping costs are pretty out of control. (I’ve spent over $1,000 in shipping through the USPS for my giveaways. Ugh!) Earlier this year, I realized I couldn’t keep this up, but I refused to stop the giveaways so I’ve done a couple things: 1) Instead of giving away 10 books every month, I’m now giving away 10 books every six weeks or so. (That’ll mean about three fewer giveaways per year.) And I’m sure most of my followers have noticed I’m now adding links in my posts to Amazon.com. These are pretty unobtrusive, as only the book title(s) and/or author name are linked (no ads or anything like that). This will help followers find out more information about the books/authors I post, and if they happen to buy them (or anything else at Amazon that they put in their cart at that time), I’ll get an “affiliates fee” for that. It’s an extremely small percentage, but perhaps over time it may help offset a fraction of the shipping costs for my giveaways. That said, if any of you are planning to make purchases from Amazon (doesn’t have to be books… it can be anything), I’d greatly appreciate it if you went to Amazon through one of my links, filled your cart, and then checked out. You’d be helping me keep the giveaways going. And if you do this, please send me a message and tell me! I’d like to thank you personally for it. :DHere’s a link to all of my past giveaways and winners, and here’s a link for Amazon. Thank you again!More details on how to use my Amazon links

[macrolit]

This post is three years old, so it’s probably a good time for an update. A lot has changed. I’ve now given away 700+ books, and they’ve gone to 17 different countries: Argentina * Bosnia and Herzegovina * Brazil * Bulgaria * Canada * Chile * France * India * Ireland * Mexico * North Macedonia * Philippines * Portugal * Serbia * Spain * UK * USA * You can always see my latest giveaways (including the two current ones) by using the tag: giveaway. You can also click here to see the announcements of all of our winners, along with photos of the books from our winners once they’ve been received. I’m really hoping some of those 700+ books have become favorites to those who received them. Giving away classic literature in the form of physical, vintage books brings me more joy than you can imagine. If you’ve been following me for a while, you can see how passionate I am about this. I’ve been giving away books through my Tumblr since 2015. There were years that I lost my job and was out of work for long stretches. But the giveaways continued, even when it was difficult to afford it. During one of these stretches, I became an Amazon affiliate. I outlined how that works in my note above, but to summarize: I get a 4% affiliate’s fee anytime someone clicks on one of my links to get to Amazon, fills their cart (as usual), and checks out… just like they always do. There’s no change to the routine other than clicking one of my links to actually get to Amazon in the first place. And this applies not just to the books I link to but to all the products you purchase. I became an affiliate as a way to try to help offset a fraction of the costs of shipping internationally. The books themselves aren’t too expensive because I source them through second-hand bookstores and library book sales. The domestic (US) shipments aren’t too expensive because I can use media mail rates. But the international shipping costs are crippling. The cost for a single international shipment of 10 - 15 books is almost always between $65.00 to $80.00 USD. Here’s the cost of the shipment to our latest winner. 

Now, let’s get real. A lot of us hate Amazon. I get it. A lot of us (myself included) are disgusted by Jeff Bezos. A lot of us (myself included) believe they can/should treat and pay their workers a hell of a lot better. A lot of us (myself included) believe it’s complete bullshit that they don’t pay taxes. (WTF?!?) So why am encouraging you to shop at Amazon?  I’m not. I’m going to say that again. I’M NOT.  I’m not encouraging you to shop at Amazon if you aren’t already doing so. I don’t want you to buy from Amazon if you can buy from local retailers… ***ESPECIALLY*** independent bookstores. But I’m a realist. I hate Amazon, but I can’t find everything I need at local stores, so I do purchase from them. And I know others do, too. That’s when I’d like you to use my Amazon link: When you’ve already made the decision that you’re going to purchase from them. At that point, why not help support something good? The small affiliate’s fee helps offset a fraction of the shipping costs, but it’s enough to keep my giveaways going. And by doing so, I end up spending quite a bit at libraries and second-hand bookstores (for the giveaway books).  For example, someone recently purchased $133.00 worth of textbooks using my link, and I received a $5.36 affiliate’s fee for it. I really appreciate that. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but $12 one month, $10 another month, maybe $20 around Christmas… it helps.  So this is what I’m asking. If you shop at Amazon, please use one of my links to get there, and then shop as usual. If you don’t shop at Amazon, don’t start because of me. Please don’t. Thank you!  My Amazon link: https://amzn.to/2DHdrmt

Updated on 9/9/20

[macrolit]

“The moment that we persuade a child, any child, to cross that threshold, that magic threshold into a library, we change their lives forever for the better. It’s an enormous force for good.”

— Barack Obama (b. 4 August 1961)

[macrolit]

[cinemaspam]

– Diahann Carroll & Sidney Poitier in Paris Blues (1961)