Ross’s Timely Discoveries

Reading Michael Ross’s collection of quotes along with his comments feels like peeking into another’s diary and finding a relationship with the enclosed contents. Just as elusive time flies from us, so do we adapt to different identities at varied ages. As a consummate reader, the author, intrigued by the changing aspects of time, selects quotes from literature relating to how the present, past, and future are viewed. Take a quote from John Updike, who comments on how paradise always lies in the past or future, but not in the present. It seems the grass is always greener somewhere else. Pithy truisms related to impressions of mutable time, feelings of age, and the value of memory selected from American and British authors grace the pages with insightfully incisive editorial comments. Familiar authors such as Bernard Malamud, Garrison Keillor, Doris Lessing, Oscar Wilde, Elia Kazan, and more serve as the sources. The book’s design is unique; it resembles an old-fashioned hardback classic in pocket-book size with a valentine red binding. The script on the black and white pages is elegantly lettered, and these are interspersed with skillful illustrations of some of the included authors by Cara Lowe. An interesting collection of timely thoughts.