I've had a tough time with Pynchon. I liked him very much when I first read him. I liked him less with each book. He got denser and more complex in a way that didn't really pay off.
Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things.
| Steve Allen, Entertainer (1921) |
| Charles Babbage, Mathematician (1792) |
| Evan Bayh, Politician (1955) |
| Alejo Carpentier, Novelist (1904) |
| Elizabeth David, Writer (1913) |
| Gray Davis, Politician (1942) |
| Gnassingbe Eyadema, Statesman (1937) |
| Carlton Fisk, Athlete (1947) |
| Kit Harington, Actor (1986) |
| Joyce Jillson, Celebrity (1946) |
| Melvil Dewey, Inventor (1931) |
| Gerald R. Ford, President (2006) |
| Doug Harvey, Athlete (1989) |
| Elsa Lanchester, Actress (1986) |
| Kenneth Scott Latourette, Historian (1968) |

