Masha Hamilton > Quotes

“The stories she'd read of others' lives over these last few months had left her with a greater appreciation for the thread of her own life.”
― Masha Hamilton, The Camel Bookmobile

“Books allowed her vicarious tastes of infinite variety, but they didn't supplant the need to venture out into the big and the messy. In fact, just the opposite. Books convinced her that something more existed---something intuitive, beyond reason---and they whetted her appetite to find it.”
― Masha Hamilton, The Camel Bookmobile

“I'll be back," she said. "Very soon."
He needed to reply. He needed to say Good, come back; better, Don't go; or better still, I'll join you. He wanted to say, Your neck is beautiful. He wanted to say, I never ever thought my life would hold this, and if your leaving is what I must give for what I was given, then it was worth it.
But the children were all around and Mr Abasi was calling out and motioning for her to come, and anyway, he knew now, if he hadn't known before, that there were limitations to words - words in the air or on a page.”
― Masha Hamilton, The Camel Bookmobile

“I realized right away that books could take us out of ourselves, and make us larger. Even provide us with human connections we wouldn’t otherwise have.”
― Masha Hamilton, The Camel Bookmobile

“I think I was always interested in the larger world, even as a kid, and my experiences as a journalist only heightened that interest. Covering conflict, I learned that though leaders often try to create a sense of "us" and "them," the differences are not that delineated. I often felt like it was a whole bunch of "us," with some of "them" scattered around. That made me feel that the borders we draw around ourselves are often artificial.
”
― Masha Hamilton

“Have you heard," he said "that many of our people believe if you know five colloquial expressions in their tribal language, they must always provide you with nourishment and shelter? But-" He paused as though to make sure she was paying attention. "But if you know fewer than five, they owe you not even a sip of water."
She nodded, understanding his point, but he pressed it.
"Learn those five phrases, Miss Sweeney," he said.”
― Masha Hamilton, The Camel Bookmobile

“But then, with whatever time she had left, until life was taken from her, Neema would touch more pages; she would encounter there more of those far-flung sisters; she would listen to them whisper the unuttered words of her heart.”
― Masha Hamilton, The Camel Bookmobile

“If I have to stay my whole life here, without ever experiencing there, I’ll evaporate.”
― Masha Hamilton, The Camel Bookmobile

“Besides, Fi was convinced that instinct could determine a body's literary needs, just as physical cravings pointed to dietary shortfalls. She'd experienced it herself more than once among the library's dense shelves; not knowing what she should read next, she'd wandered, sniffing slightly, palms open. When intuition hit, she felt a sensation she couldn't describe exactly: her hands seemed to know where to go. And when she reached, invariably she found exactly the book she needed at that moment - sometimes fiction, sometimes biography, sometimes a slim volume of obscure poetry”
― Masha Hamilton

“You've the heart of a chanter who loves one song at sunup and another at sundown. Don't you see that both are part of the same day?”
― Masha Hamilton , The Camel Bookmobile