“Because to remember is to fill the present with the past, which meant that the cost of remembering anything, anything at all, is life itself. We murder ourselves, he thought, by remembering”
― The Emperor of Gladness
― The Emperor of Gladness
“The hardest thing in the world is to live only once. But it’s beautiful here, even the ghosts agree.”
― The Emperor of Gladness
― The Emperor of Gladness
“Or, at the very least, turn me little again.' He wiped his eyes with a sleeve, and stared at the plate of mung bean cakes. 'Little enough that all I wanted to reach for was the banquet table. When all I knew to desire was a sweet cake. And even if everyone punished me, or yelled at me, or hated me, at least back then I didn’t know why. If you can’t turn me into a fish, at least turn me little.”
― The Poet Empress
― The Poet Empress
“And it was a magical thing, to love someone so much; it was a feeling so strange and slippery, like a sheath of fabric cut from the sky.”
― In Memoriam
― In Memoriam
“Humanity is awful, angry, and violent. But we are also magical and musical. We dance. We sing. We create. We live and laugh and rage and cry and despair and hope. We are a bundle of contradictions without rhyme or reason. And there is no one like us in all the universe.”
― In the Lives of Puppets
― In the Lives of Puppets
Nevena’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Nevena’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Nevena
Lists liked by Nevena



















