“If all you ever see is reality, you just want to die. The only way to get over barriers, she said, is to live in the spirit of already being over them.”
― Sweet Bean Paste
― Sweet Bean Paste
“History, both the arm holding down the drowning body and the voice claiming the water is holy.”
― A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance
― A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance
“You had to be a go‑getter in your twenties more than any other time, where being a go‑getter meant building a safe career as quickly as possible or die trying.”
― Shoko's Smile
― Shoko's Smile
“A culture fixated on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty, but an obsession about female obedience. Dieting is the most potent political sedative in women’s history; a quietly mad population is a tractable one.”
― How to Date Men When You Hate Men
― How to Date Men When You Hate Men
“It's just good hospitality,' Tokue countered.
‘For the customers?'
‘No. The beans.'
‘The beans?'
‘Because they came all the way from Canada. For us.”
― Sweet Bean Paste
‘For the customers?'
‘No. The beans.'
‘The beans?'
‘Because they came all the way from Canada. For us.”
― Sweet Bean Paste
Shmesa’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Shmesa’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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