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The haters and the losers
Three young men, all aspiring concert pianists and all near the top of their class, study together under the great pianist Vladimir Horowitz.
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Cecily Carver
4
A Traditional Marriage
Natalia Ginzburg, The Dry Heart
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Cecily Carver
15
Some passages from books I read this year
Every year, I like to close out this newsletter with a roundup of passages from the books I read during the year that made an impression on me.
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Cecily Carver
7
Okay, fine, All Fours
And Rabbit, Run
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Cecily Carver
24
Gambling Stories: The Queen of Spades
There's a mini-genre of 19th-century fiction I particularly enjoy: gambling narratives.
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Cecily Carver
2
Book: Treatise on Elegant Living
A rip is a misfortune, a stain is a vice.
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Cecily Carver
13
Notes on my reading habits
Vanity and Shame
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Cecily Carver
44
What Has Cecily Been Doing?
Books, Piano, Ceramics
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Cecily Carver
1
What History Is Made Of
Nicola Chiaromonte's The Paradox of History
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Cecily Carver
3
The Ideal Fascist: The Conformist, Alberto Moravia
Alberto Moravia’s protagonists, in the novels of his I’ve read, are almost self-consciously off-putting: narcissistic, self-loathing, compulsive, and…
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Cecily Carver
2
Twelve passages from books I read this year
As I did last year and the year before, I’ll wrap up this year in newsletter writing by sharing some favorite passages from the books I read in 2023.
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Cecily Carver
1
Boredom, Alberto Moravia
I’ve read only one of Alberto Moravia’s novels before: Contempt (Italian title Il disprezzo, also adapted into a 1963 film by Jean-Luc Godard), and it…
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Cecily Carver
1
© 2025 Cecily Carver
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