Quotes from Charles J. Shields

She had students read their compositions aloud so that everyone could hear how good writing had three Cs: clarity, coherence, and cadence.

At home, he (A.C. Lee) encouraged Nelle to clamber up on him lap to "help" him read the newspaper or complete the crossword puzzle.

People who have made peace with themselves are the people I most admire in the world.

To Kill a Mockingbird would become like Catch-22, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, On the Road, Soul on Ice, and The Feminine Mystique—books that seized the imagination of the post–World War II generation

Also during their honeymoon, Jane shared with him a gift from her favorite professor at Swarthmore, Henry Goddard, chair of the English Department. For every student, Goddard wrote a phrase from literature on a slip of paper, put it inside a walnut shell, and presented it at the end of the semester. For Jane, he had selected a sentence from Dostoyevsky: "One sacred memory from childhood is perhaps the best education." Kurt referred to it for years as inspiration and solace.

Garden City: Dreams in a Kansas Town

occurred to Nelle. I am satisfied

He was a boring bully. Never hit me, but he would talk and talk about science until my sister and I were bored shitless."54

Gus Lee, who later wrote Honor and Duty

The irony is, if we divide ourselves for our own comfort, no one will have comfort.

Some students, he realized, were in the workshop primarily to avoid being drafted, and not because of an overwhelming desire to write. Quietly, he let it be known that he didn't care whether the young men in his classes submitted anything; he wouldn't flunk them, which could result in losing their student deferment and making them eligible for the draft.133

Jim Adams, Kurt's nephew, found "there was a definite disconnect between the kind of guy you would imagine Kurt must be from the tone of his books, the kind of guy who would say, 'God damn it, you got to be kind,' and the reality of his behavior on a daily basis. He was a complicated, difficult man.… I think he admired the idea of love, community, and family from a distance, but couldn't deal with the complicated emotional elements they included."142

TO LIVE IN HEARTS WE LEAVE BEHIND IS NOT TO DIE

Engaging and well paced, the book fills in the reality behind Vonnegut's work