persephonelovesbooks

[persephonelovesbooks]

The constant typing and swiping on the smartphone is an almost liturgical gesture, and it has a substantive impact on our relation to the world. I swipe away the information that does not interest me. I zoom in on the content that I like. I have the world firmly in my grip. The world has to accord with my desires. In this way, the smartphone amplifies self-referentiality. Through all my swiping, I submit the world to my needs. The world appears to me under the digital illusion of total availability.

Byung-Chul Han, Non-things: Upheaval in the Lifeworld

[persephonelovesbooks]

Giveaw@y: We’re giving away these 12 vintage paperback classics! Won’t these look lovely on your shelf? =) Enter to win these classics by: 1) following macrolit on Tumblr (yes, we will check. :P), and 2) reblogging this post. We will choose a random winner on 13 September 2025. Good luck!

Follow our IG account to be eligible for our IG giveaw@ys. For full rules to all of our giveaw@ys, click here.

[persephonelovesbooks]

“There are certain eras which are too complex, too deafened by contradictory historical and intellectual experiences, to hear the voice of sanity. Sanity becomes compromise, evasion, a lie.”

— Susan Sontag, “Simone Weil”

[persephonelovesbooks]

🕊 Nadin’s Hope: A Mother, A Memory, A Future

Hello, my name is Nadin. I’m from Gaza. I’m a graphic design graduate, a wife—and now, a mother.

I finished my design studies just before the war began. I had dreams of starting a small studio, of creating art that told stories. I used to think about colors and fonts and the future.

Then, the war came. And the future became something we tried to hold onto, moment by moment.

On October 22, 2023, I learned I was pregnant when a missile destroyed my husband’s family home, killing 25 members—his mother, siblings, nieces and nephews—entire branches of our family in seconds.

We were displaced twice. Everything was gone—home, safety, routine, rest.

A few weeks later, I gave birth to our daughter. There was no crib, no celebration—not even stillness. But she arrived, quietly and beautifully. In her eyes I saw something I hadn’t felt in weeks: life that still wanted to grow.

Now, our days are shaped by decisions that could dismantle the future we are trying to build together.

Today, Israel’s government is discussing plans for a full military occupation of the Gaza Strip, including Gaza City and southern regions. The stated aim: to eliminate Hamas and later hand governing control to allied Arab forces—not Israel—but with no clear path to peace or normalcy.

The humanitarian fallout is devastating. More than 61,000 Palestinians have died in this war; hunger and malnutrition are rising sharply. Hospitals in north Gaza have shut down, and 193 people have now died of starvation, nearly half of them children.

Aid remains blocked, water is scarce, and many risk dying of hunger or disease long before future promises arrive.

We Don’t Know What Comes Next There’s no clear path forward—only uncertainty for our daughter’s life and our ability to survive another day.

How You Can Help I’m asking for support—not for comfort, but for survival:

Help us meet basic needs so we can breathe, heal, and preserve a world for our daughter.

Support us as I try to stand again on my own feet—even a glimmer of stability matters.

If you’ve read this far, thank you. If you can give—thank you. If you can’t—just sharing this post is a lifeline I will never forget.

[persephonelovesbooks]

To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.

― W. Somerset Maugham

[persephonelovesbooks]

The Double, Fyodor Dostoevsky (tr. by Constance Garnett)

[persephonelovesbooks]

new heights podcast (august 2025) - taylor swift

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snoopy of the day

[persephonelovesbooks]

august, tathev simonyan (a revised version of this poem)

[persephonelovesbooks]

“I survived because the fire inside me burned brighter than the fire around me.”

— Joshua Graham

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—May Sarton, "Christmas Letter to a Psychiatrist"

[persephonelovesbooks]

Does such a thing as 'the fatal flaw,' that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature? I used to think it didn't. Now I think it does. And I think that mine is this: a morbid longing for the picturesque at all cost.” - Donna Tartt

[persephonelovesbooks]

“If “X exists” amounts to no more than “X” has a meaning a then it is not a sentence which treats of X, but a sentence about our use of language, that is, about the use of the word “X”.”

— Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations

[persephonelovesbooks]

go on more walks. walk for no reason. walk to solve a problem. walk to blow off steam. walk to get outside. walk to listen, read, and learn. walk to escape distractions. walk to improve your health. walk to think. a simple walking habit can change absolutely everything.

[persephonelovesbooks]

[persephonelovesbooks]

being so staunchly anti generative ai while everyone around you is "i used chatgpt" and "i asked grok" and google search is useless and every company is implementing ai and every single celeb is taking ai money and partnering with ai is like... it's so jarring. why can't you see the harm like i can? why are you so lazy? why are we making society this stupid? can we please stop? it's killing people does that not matter to you?