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Roy A. Bradley

Roy's notebook

Reading slowly, and writing about it.

Essays on the books that take me a month to finish, the notes I leave in their margins, and the few habits of print I refuse to give up. A new one turns up every few weeks.

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  1. 3 min read

    On Rereading

    The first time through a book you read to find out what happens. Every time after that, you read to find out who you were.

  2. 1 min read

    Notes, August

    Four things from a month of not writing much: a misprint, a cheap notebook, a quiet chapter, and a letter that took nine days.

  3. 1 min read

    A Due Date from 1987

    A secondhand copy of Middlemarch still has its library card in the back. Someone renewed it four times.

  4. 3 min read

    The Unhurried Newsletter

    A note on writing to a schedule you set yourself, and why the best newsletters read like letters, not broadcasts.

  5. 3 min read

    Footnotes Are a Form of Honesty

    The footnote lets a writer admit doubt, digress, and cite a source without breaking the sentence that needed to stay clean.

The Sunday letter

The week’s essay, three things worth reading, and a closing line. Every letter has an unsubscribe link at the bottom.

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