I don't dream ... and not for "free" anyway

I once put together a book called The Tiger Garden: A Book of Writer's Dreams. Every day I sat at my desk typing up other people's dreams. Because it was a charity project intended to benefit Amnesty International, I was unable to offer payment to contributors. 'I don't dream,' wrote actor and writer Dirk Bogarde in response to my request, 'and not for "free" anyway.' The book was dismissed by critic Harry Ritchie as 'uniquely pointless and stupid', so he's not going to enjoy the current book, which will feature some of my dreams about books, writers, bookshops and critics, including at least one in which Harry Ritchie appears. 

N. Royle, White spines: confessions of a book collector (2020), 15

A deep, pathological loathing, for that word - 'reread'

The writer Conrad Williams, has a dislike, if not a deep, pathological loathing, for that word - 'reread'. I know what he means. At least, I think I do. You know the sort of the thing 'I'm rereading Proust.' 'I was rereading Hamlet the other day' 'This summer, when we go to Tuscany, I am looking forward to rereading Nakokov's stories.' That sort of thing. They want you to know they've read Proust or Hamlet or Nakokov's stories before. In fact they're terrified lest you think they're so ignorant and poorly read that they're only just getting round to reading Proust or Hamlet or Nakokov's stories.

N. Royle, White spines: confessions of a book collector (2020),13