Discover new books on Goodreads
Meet your next favorite book
“I'm sick of just liking people. I wish to God I could meet somebody I could respect.”
― Franny and Zooey
― Franny and Zooey
“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”
― The Bell Jar
― The Bell Jar
“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.”
―
―
“Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.”
― The Picture of Dorian Gray
― The Picture of Dorian Gray
“An artist's only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection, and on his own terms, not anyone else's.”
― Franny and Zooey
― Franny and Zooey
maria’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at maria’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by maria
Lists liked by maria





























