The Paris Review

“A thinking woman sleeps with monsters.” —Adrienne Rich, from “Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law”

“A day without an argument is like an egg without salt.” —Angela Carter

Well-known businesswoman Alice B. Toklas.

Much has been made in recent days of Wikipedia’s decision to place certain authors under the rubric “American Women Novelists,” rather than merely “American Novelists”—the sort of thing which, in my retail days, I might have referred to as “a strong choice.”

Perhaps less controversial, but I would argue just as peculiar, is their designation of a lady who would today have been 136. In the alphabetized list of notable birthdays for April 30 one may find the following: “Alice B. Toklas, American businesswoman.”

Old Mankato, MN Public Library, aka Deep Valley Library.

“She thought of the library, so shining white and new; the rows and rows of unread books; the bliss of unhurried sojourns there and of going out to a restaurant, alone, to eat.”
—Maud Hart Lovelace, Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown

“I don't deserve any credit for turning the other cheek as my tongue is always in it.” —Flannery O’Connor

“Memory is the happiness of being alone.” —Lois Lowry, Anastasia Krupnik