

“If you're in pitch blackness, all you can do is sit tight until your eyes get used to the dark”
― Norwegian Wood
― Norwegian Wood

“Writing simply means no dependent clauses, no dangling things, no flashbacks, and keeping the subject near the predicate. We throw in as many fresh words we can get away with. Simple, short sentences don't always work. You have to do tricks with pacing, alternate long sentences with short, to keep it vital and alive.... Virtually every page is a cliffhanger--you've got to force them to turn it."~”
―
―

“All human beings have three lives: public, private, and secret.”
― Gabriel García Márquez: a Life
― Gabriel García Márquez: a Life

“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

“How much do you love me?' Midori asked.
'Enough to melt all the tigers in the world to butter,' I said.”
― Norwegian Wood
'Enough to melt all the tigers in the world to butter,' I said.”
― Norwegian Wood
Shaonli’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Shaonli’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Shaonli
Lists liked by Shaonli