In the evenings, though, he became more like his old self: his old old self, really. He became sweeter, the way he’d been as a child, before he began to gird himself with layers of irony and clever remarks.
“History, huh?”
― Red, White & Royal Blue
― Red, White & Royal Blue
“Thinking about history makes me wonder how I’ll fit into it one day, I guess. And you too. I kinda wish people still wrote like that. History, huh? Bet we could make some.”
― Red, White & Royal Blue
― Red, White & Royal Blue
“The impulse to write things down is a peculiarly compulsive one, inexplicable to those who do not share it, useful only accidentally, only secondarily, in the way that any compulsion tries to justify itself. I suppose that it begins or does not begin in the cradle. Although I have felt compelled to write things down since I was five years old, I doubt that my daughter ever will, for she is a singularly blessed and accepting child, delighted with life exactly as life presents itself to her, unafraid to go to sleep and unafraid to wake up. Keepers of private notebooks are a different breed altogether, lonely and resistant rearrangers of things, anxious malcontents, children afflicted apparently at birth with some presentiment of loss.”
― Slouching Towards Bethlehem
― Slouching Towards Bethlehem
“A fact of my life was that I had a morbid fear of reproach, especially from women.”
― Purity
― Purity
“Women of color, queer women, and transgender women need to be better included in the feminist project.”
― Bad Feminist: Essays
― Bad Feminist: Essays
James’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at James’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by James
Lists liked by James






















































