178 books
—
240 voters
to-read
(227)
currently-reading (12)
read (493)
wish-list (119)
dnf (8)
english (340)
europe (308)
north-america (196)
usa (190)
spanish (104)
non-fiction (95)
spain (78)
currently-reading (12)
read (493)
wish-list (119)
dnf (8)
english (340)
europe (308)
north-america (196)
usa (190)
spanish (104)
non-fiction (95)
spain (78)
england
(69)
2021 (51)
2022 (50)
2014 (47)
2020 (47)
2016 (44)
german (44)
2018 (41)
2019 (38)
2015 (37)
french (37)
2024 (34)
2021 (51)
2022 (50)
2014 (47)
2020 (47)
2016 (44)
german (44)
2018 (41)
2019 (38)
2015 (37)
french (37)
2024 (34)
“It is only now, these years later, that Rahel with adult hindsight recognized the sweetness of that gesture. A grown man entertaining three raccoons, treating them like real ladies. Instinctively colluding in the conspiracy of their fiction, taking care not to decimate it with adult carelessness. Or affection.
It is after all so easy to shatter a story. To break a chain of thought. To ruin a fragment of a dream being carried around carefully like a piece of porcelain.
To let it be, to travel with it, as Velutha did, is much the harder thing to do.”
― The God of Small Things
It is after all so easy to shatter a story. To break a chain of thought. To ruin a fragment of a dream being carried around carefully like a piece of porcelain.
To let it be, to travel with it, as Velutha did, is much the harder thing to do.”
― The God of Small Things
“The unknownness of my needs frightens me. I do now know how huge they are, or how high they are, I only know that they are not being met. If you want to find out the circumference of an oil drop, you can use lycopodium powder. That’s what I’ll find. A tub of lycopodium powder, and I will sprinkle it on to my needs and find out how large they are. Then when I meet someone I can write up the experiment and show them what they have to take on.”
― Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
― Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
“The Olinka girls do not believe girls should be educated. When I asked a mother why she thought this, she said: A girl is nothing to herself; only to her husband can she become something.
What can she become? I asked.
Why, she said, the mother of his children.
But I am not the mother of anybody's children, I said, and I am something.”
― The Color Purple
What can she become? I asked.
Why, she said, the mother of his children.
But I am not the mother of anybody's children, I said, and I am something.”
― The Color Purple
“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably. They don’t deceive you with thrills and trick endings. They don’t surprise you with the unforeseen. They are as familiar as the house you live in. Or the smell of your lover’s skin. You know how they end, yet you listen as though you don’t. In the way that although you know that one day you will die, you live as though you won’t. In the Great Stories you know who lives, who dies, who finds love, who doesn’t. And yet you want to know again.
That is their mystery and their magic.”
― The God of Small Things
That is their mystery and their magic.”
― The God of Small Things
“But when they made love he was offended by her eyes. They behaved as though they belonged to someone else. Someone watching. Looking out of the window at the sea. At a boat in the river. Or a passerby in the mist in a hat.
He was exasperated because he didn't know what that look meant. He put it somewhere between indifference and despair. He didn’t know that in some places, like the country that Rahel came from, various kinds of despair competed for primacy. And that personal despair could never be desperate enough. That something happened when personal turmoil dropped by at the wayside shrine of the vast, violent, circling, driving, ridiculous, insane, unfeasible, public turmoil of a nation. That Big God howled like a hot wind, and demanded obeisance. Then Small God (cozy and contained, private and limited) came away cauterized, laughing numbly at his own temerity. Inured by the confirmation of his own inconsequence, he became resilient and truly indifferent. Nothing mattered much. Nothing much mattered. And the less it mattered, the less it mattered. It was never important enough. Because Worse Things had happened. In the country that she came from, poised forever between the terror of war and the horror of peace, Worse Things kept happening.
So Small God laughed a hollow laugh, and skipped away cheerfully. Like a rich boy in shorts. He whistled, kicked stones. The source of his brittle elation was the relative smallness of his misfortune. He climbed into people’s eyes and became an exasperating expression.”
― The God of Small Things
He was exasperated because he didn't know what that look meant. He put it somewhere between indifference and despair. He didn’t know that in some places, like the country that Rahel came from, various kinds of despair competed for primacy. And that personal despair could never be desperate enough. That something happened when personal turmoil dropped by at the wayside shrine of the vast, violent, circling, driving, ridiculous, insane, unfeasible, public turmoil of a nation. That Big God howled like a hot wind, and demanded obeisance. Then Small God (cozy and contained, private and limited) came away cauterized, laughing numbly at his own temerity. Inured by the confirmation of his own inconsequence, he became resilient and truly indifferent. Nothing mattered much. Nothing much mattered. And the less it mattered, the less it mattered. It was never important enough. Because Worse Things had happened. In the country that she came from, poised forever between the terror of war and the horror of peace, Worse Things kept happening.
So Small God laughed a hollow laugh, and skipped away cheerfully. Like a rich boy in shorts. He whistled, kicked stones. The source of his brittle elation was the relative smallness of his misfortune. He climbed into people’s eyes and became an exasperating expression.”
― The God of Small Things
Las Chiquis listas leen libros
— 12 members
— last activity Mar 23, 2024 09:34AM
Querida chiqui, Si estás aquí y te gusta leer, bienvenida. Si estás aquí y no te gusta, esperemos que con cada lectura disfrutes algo más, así que bi ...more
Our Shared Shelf
— 223092 members
— last activity 17 hours, 29 min ago
OUR SHARED SHELF IS CURRENTLY DORMANT AND NOT MANAGED BY EMMA AND HER TEAM. Dear Readers, As part of my work with UN Women, I have started reading ...more
Der Königliche Buchclub
— 5 members
— last activity Nov 21, 2023 07:15AM
Der Buchclub des TSO Königreichs, wo ALLE Mitglieder total freiwillig dazugekommen sind und wir viel Spaß am lesen, plaudern und essen haben werden :)
Elena’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Elena’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Elena
Lists liked by Elena







![The Handmaid's Tale (Everyman's Library) [Hardcover] [Jan 01,... by Margaret Atwood The Handmaid's Tale (Everyman's Library) [Hardcover] [Jan 01,... by Margaret Atwood](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1638477774l/573485._SY75_.jpg)



















































