Venu
@venushekar.bsky.social
Avid reader, mostly classics; new-wave movies.
Reposted by Venu
It still feels surreal that people connected with the first book, and I'd love to give something back.
If this post hits 500 shares, I'll make the Beyond The Mark eBook free for all of December.
No catch, just a thank you for the support and a push to keep me writing.
#Booksky #Author
If this post hits 500 shares, I'll make the Beyond The Mark eBook free for all of December.
No catch, just a thank you for the support and a push to keep me writing.
#Booksky #Author
November 21, 2025 at 10:49 PM
"If a poem is concentrated, a closed fist, then a novel is relaxed and expansive, an open hand: it has roads, detours, destinations; a heart line, a head line; morals and money come into it. Where the fist excludes and stuns, the open hand can touch and encompass a great deal in its travels."
November 22, 2025 at 4:56 AM
"If a poem is concentrated, a closed fist, then a novel is relaxed and expansive, an open hand: it has roads, detours, destinations; a heart line, a head line; morals and money come into it. Where the fist excludes and stuns, the open hand can touch and encompass a great deal in its travels."
"So many people were shut up tight inside themselves like boxes, yet they would open up, unfolding quite wonderfully, if only you were interested in them. And really, you didn't have to belong to a club to feel related to other human beings.'
- Initiation, Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams
- Initiation, Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams
November 22, 2025 at 4:51 AM
"So many people were shut up tight inside themselves like boxes, yet they would open up, unfolding quite wonderfully, if only you were interested in them. And really, you didn't have to belong to a club to feel related to other human beings.'
- Initiation, Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams
- Initiation, Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams
“.. Where pleasure still will lead to wrong,
And helpless Reason warn in vain
And truth is weak and Treachery strong
And joy the shortest path to Pain.
And Peace the lethargy of grief
And Hope, a phantom of the soul;
And Life a labour void and brief
And death, the despot of the whole!"
And helpless Reason warn in vain
And truth is weak and Treachery strong
And joy the shortest path to Pain.
And Peace the lethargy of grief
And Hope, a phantom of the soul;
And Life a labour void and brief
And death, the despot of the whole!"
November 21, 2025 at 2:50 AM
“.. Where pleasure still will lead to wrong,
And helpless Reason warn in vain
And truth is weak and Treachery strong
And joy the shortest path to Pain.
And Peace the lethargy of grief
And Hope, a phantom of the soul;
And Life a labour void and brief
And death, the despot of the whole!"
And helpless Reason warn in vain
And truth is weak and Treachery strong
And joy the shortest path to Pain.
And Peace the lethargy of grief
And Hope, a phantom of the soul;
And Life a labour void and brief
And death, the despot of the whole!"
Reposted by Venu
Artemisia Gentileschi was 20 years old when she painted Judith Slaying Holofernes
November 15, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Artemisia Gentileschi was 20 years old when she painted Judith Slaying Holofernes
'What constructional crimes are committed in the name of the gross national product.'
-A Countryman's Winter Notebook, Adrian Bell
#adrianbell #booksky
-A Countryman's Winter Notebook, Adrian Bell
#adrianbell #booksky
November 16, 2025 at 4:32 AM
'What constructional crimes are committed in the name of the gross national product.'
-A Countryman's Winter Notebook, Adrian Bell
#adrianbell #booksky
-A Countryman's Winter Notebook, Adrian Bell
#adrianbell #booksky
"IN THE mornings Alexei Petrovich's mama yawns loud and long: hurrah, onward, a new morning gushes in through the window; the cactuses shine, the curtains quiver; the gates of the nighttime realm have slammed shut; dragons, mushrooms, and frightening dwarfs have plunged below the earth once again,
November 16, 2025 at 4:25 AM
"IN THE mornings Alexei Petrovich's mama yawns loud and long: hurrah, onward, a new morning gushes in through the window; the cactuses shine, the curtains quiver; the gates of the nighttime realm have slammed shut; dragons, mushrooms, and frightening dwarfs have plunged below the earth once again,
‘What a pity we can't make a cup of Ovaltine, was her last conscious thought. Life's problems are often eased by hot milky drinks.’
-Barbara Pym
#barbarapym #booksky
-Barbara Pym
#barbarapym #booksky
November 14, 2025 at 9:47 AM
‘What a pity we can't make a cup of Ovaltine, was her last conscious thought. Life's problems are often eased by hot milky drinks.’
-Barbara Pym
#barbarapym #booksky
-Barbara Pym
#barbarapym #booksky
‘Perhaps that's the whole point of prayer— to think to yourself in peace, to want nothing, to ask for nothing, but simply to sort out your own mind. That should be enough.'
-Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, Olga Tokarczuk
#olgatokarczuk #booksky
-Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, Olga Tokarczuk
#olgatokarczuk #booksky
November 11, 2025 at 3:37 AM
‘Perhaps that's the whole point of prayer— to think to yourself in peace, to want nothing, to ask for nothing, but simply to sort out your own mind. That should be enough.'
-Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, Olga Tokarczuk
#olgatokarczuk #booksky
-Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, Olga Tokarczuk
#olgatokarczuk #booksky
'One has to tell people what to think. There's no alternative. Otherwise someone else will do it.'
-Olga Tokarczuk
#olgatokarczuk #booksky
-Olga Tokarczuk
#olgatokarczuk #booksky
November 11, 2025 at 3:35 AM
'One has to tell people what to think. There's no alternative. Otherwise someone else will do it.'
-Olga Tokarczuk
#olgatokarczuk #booksky
-Olga Tokarczuk
#olgatokarczuk #booksky
‘A shrivelled whispering, winter vines rustling , the sibilance of autumn wind in dry grass.’
-Margaret Atwood
#margaretatwood #booksjy
-Margaret Atwood
#margaretatwood #booksjy
November 11, 2025 at 3:33 AM
‘A shrivelled whispering, winter vines rustling , the sibilance of autumn wind in dry grass.’
-Margaret Atwood
#margaretatwood #booksjy
-Margaret Atwood
#margaretatwood #booksjy
“I had some good times then. It’s no use thinking about it, no use. I was young then and all those men, the streets and places full of them, everywhere you looked; say what you like it livened things. That girl I saw crying-she's lost someone, I suppose: well, she's not crying now, is she? ..
November 3, 2025 at 4:32 AM
“I had some good times then. It’s no use thinking about it, no use. I was young then and all those men, the streets and places full of them, everywhere you looked; say what you like it livened things. That girl I saw crying-she's lost someone, I suppose: well, she's not crying now, is she? ..
“Yes, life has to go on, and I suppose a cup of tea does make it seem to be doing that more than anything.”
-Barbara Pym
#barbarapym #booksky
-Barbara Pym
#barbarapym #booksky
October 28, 2025 at 12:29 AM
“Yes, life has to go on, and I suppose a cup of tea does make it seem to be doing that more than anything.”
-Barbara Pym
#barbarapym #booksky
-Barbara Pym
#barbarapym #booksky
“Sometimes as she walked about, she saw something that made her laugh out loud in the street. Sometimes she felt menaced by the people and the buildings, and she had to reason with herself not to run. She was happy without knowing it—anything made her laugh just as anything made her cry.
October 27, 2025 at 5:26 AM
“Sometimes as she walked about, she saw something that made her laugh out loud in the street. Sometimes she felt menaced by the people and the buildings, and she had to reason with herself not to run. She was happy without knowing it—anything made her laugh just as anything made her cry.
“The sky, as they talked and waited, was turning from night to day. The earth still slept, but it was visible in a strange light of no colour. To the east the grey husk of sky split apart and showed a naked whiteness. Seen in that way, the whiteness was startling.
October 27, 2025 at 1:16 AM
“The sky, as they talked and waited, was turning from night to day. The earth still slept, but it was visible in a strange light of no colour. To the east the grey husk of sky split apart and showed a naked whiteness. Seen in that way, the whiteness was startling.
"To find joy in the bread - that is the best gratitude! Gratitude that ends when the last bite has been swallowed."
-On Gratitude-From a Diary, 1919
Earthly Signs - Moscow Diaries (1917-1922)
Marina Tsvetaeva
#MarinaTsvetaeva #diaries #russianliterature #booksky
-On Gratitude-From a Diary, 1919
Earthly Signs - Moscow Diaries (1917-1922)
Marina Tsvetaeva
#MarinaTsvetaeva #diaries #russianliterature #booksky
October 26, 2025 at 11:02 AM
"To find joy in the bread - that is the best gratitude! Gratitude that ends when the last bite has been swallowed."
-On Gratitude-From a Diary, 1919
Earthly Signs - Moscow Diaries (1917-1922)
Marina Tsvetaeva
#MarinaTsvetaeva #diaries #russianliterature #booksky
-On Gratitude-From a Diary, 1919
Earthly Signs - Moscow Diaries (1917-1922)
Marina Tsvetaeva
#MarinaTsvetaeva #diaries #russianliterature #booksky
"The War was the natural result of this insensitiveness. What else could you expect from a society which can think of nothing to do with its surplus grain but to let it rot? It is like a motor-car which has reached the point where it no longer pays to repair it. ...Order is unnatural.
October 26, 2025 at 12:33 AM
"The War was the natural result of this insensitiveness. What else could you expect from a society which can think of nothing to do with its surplus grain but to let it rot? It is like a motor-car which has reached the point where it no longer pays to repair it. ...Order is unnatural.
Note: Self-knowledge possibly beneficial, but almost always unpleasant to a degree.
-The Diary of a Provincial Lady, E.M. Delafield
📸Photo by Alexander Krivitskiy
#emdelafield #autobiographical #classicliterature #booksky
-The Diary of a Provincial Lady, E.M. Delafield
📸Photo by Alexander Krivitskiy
#emdelafield #autobiographical #classicliterature #booksky
October 26, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Note: Self-knowledge possibly beneficial, but almost always unpleasant to a degree.
-The Diary of a Provincial Lady, E.M. Delafield
📸Photo by Alexander Krivitskiy
#emdelafield #autobiographical #classicliterature #booksky
-The Diary of a Provincial Lady, E.M. Delafield
📸Photo by Alexander Krivitskiy
#emdelafield #autobiographical #classicliterature #booksky
"It is impossible to keep up an illusion of intellectual freedom when all you long for in the world is a cup of tea."
-Women Against Men (The Single Heart), Storm Jameson
📸Photo by Julian Hochgesang on Unsplash
#StormJameson #literaryfiction #classicliterature #cupoftea #booksky
-Women Against Men (The Single Heart), Storm Jameson
📸Photo by Julian Hochgesang on Unsplash
#StormJameson #literaryfiction #classicliterature #cupoftea #booksky
October 26, 2025 at 12:25 AM
"It is impossible to keep up an illusion of intellectual freedom when all you long for in the world is a cup of tea."
-Women Against Men (The Single Heart), Storm Jameson
📸Photo by Julian Hochgesang on Unsplash
#StormJameson #literaryfiction #classicliterature #cupoftea #booksky
-Women Against Men (The Single Heart), Storm Jameson
📸Photo by Julian Hochgesang on Unsplash
#StormJameson #literaryfiction #classicliterature #cupoftea #booksky
"Yulia Sergeevna left, and a little later, Laptev took his leave of the doctor and went home. When a man is dissatisfied and feels unhappy, how banal seem to him all these lindens, shadows, clouds, all these self-satisfied and indifferent beauties of nature!
October 25, 2025 at 2:06 PM
"Yulia Sergeevna left, and a little later, Laptev took his leave of the doctor and went home. When a man is dissatisfied and feels unhappy, how banal seem to him all these lindens, shadows, clouds, all these self-satisfied and indifferent beauties of nature!
'...Gifts, sad and defining, books read, ideas stored-all intact and battered by an inconstant will.'
-Sleepless Nights, Elizabeth Hardwick
📸Photo by Rachel Claire
#elizabethhardwick
-Sleepless Nights, Elizabeth Hardwick
📸Photo by Rachel Claire
#elizabethhardwick
October 25, 2025 at 6:31 AM
'...Gifts, sad and defining, books read, ideas stored-all intact and battered by an inconstant will.'
-Sleepless Nights, Elizabeth Hardwick
📸Photo by Rachel Claire
#elizabethhardwick
-Sleepless Nights, Elizabeth Hardwick
📸Photo by Rachel Claire
#elizabethhardwick
Discarded clothes from UK brands dumped in protected Ghana wetlands
Discarded clothes from UK brands dumped in protected Ghana wetlands
Garments thrown out by consumers from Next, George, M&S and others found in or near conservation areas
www.theguardian.com
June 18, 2025 at 5:13 AM
Discarded clothes from UK brands dumped in protected Ghana wetlands
“ Time, like an ever rolling stream, bears all its sons away, and its daughters, too, and the tastes and ideas of each generation, together with its ideals and conventions, go rolling downstream with it like so much debris.”
- Candleford Green, Flora Thompson
#booksky
- Candleford Green, Flora Thompson
#booksky
June 13, 2025 at 1:50 PM
“ Time, like an ever rolling stream, bears all its sons away, and its daughters, too, and the tastes and ideas of each generation, together with its ideals and conventions, go rolling downstream with it like so much debris.”
- Candleford Green, Flora Thompson
#booksky
- Candleford Green, Flora Thompson
#booksky
“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it. People think pleasing God is all God cares about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.”
-The Color Purple, Alice Walker
#booksky
-The Color Purple, Alice Walker
#booksky
June 12, 2025 at 1:31 PM
“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it. People think pleasing God is all God cares about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.”
-The Color Purple, Alice Walker
#booksky
-The Color Purple, Alice Walker
#booksky
“On 10 June 1940, the Italian dictator Mussolini declared war against the- Allies. Four days later, the German army entered Paris. The French government was about to surrender.”
- Nella Last’s War, The Second World War Diaries of Housewife, 49
- Nella Last’s War, The Second World War Diaries of Housewife, 49
June 10, 2025 at 12:19 PM
“On 10 June 1940, the Italian dictator Mussolini declared war against the- Allies. Four days later, the German army entered Paris. The French government was about to surrender.”
- Nella Last’s War, The Second World War Diaries of Housewife, 49
- Nella Last’s War, The Second World War Diaries of Housewife, 49