From the Bookshelf: Freedom

Since Christmas, my time has consisted entirely of reading through Jonathan Franzen’s monolith, Freedom. Easily my favorite book of 2010, Freedom is worth the hype. Expect more posts over the next few days as I digest everything, but for now I’ll just leave some quotes on life, identity, and of course, freedom:
“There’s a hazardous sadness to the first sounds of someone else’s work in the morning; it’s as if stillness experiences pain in being broken.”
“It’s doubtful that anyone with an internet connection at his workplace is writing good fiction.”
“This wasn’t the person he’d thought he was, or would have chosen to be if he’d been free to choose, but there was something comforting and liberating about being an actual definite someone, rather than a collection of contradictory potential someones.”
“Freedom is a pain in the ass. And that’s precisely why it’s so imperative that we seize the opportunity that’s been presented to us this fall. To get a nation of free people to let go of their bad logic and sign on with better logic, by whatever means necessary.”