55 books
—
147 voters
Discover new books on Goodreads
Meet your next favorite book
Rebekah
https://www.goodreads.com/bekahbeth
to-read
(4044)
currently-reading (94)
read (928)
did-not-finish (0)
favorites (98)
nyt-rec (63)
dnf (56)
returned-to-library (48)
2022rhc (33)
newyorker-rec (30)
currently-reading (94)
read (928)
did-not-finish (0)
favorites (98)
nyt-rec (63)
dnf (56)
returned-to-library (48)
2022rhc (33)
newyorker-rec (30)
award-winning
(17)
pub-rec (14)
ala-rec (13)
2021rhc (12)
bookshop-rec (10)
arc (7)
2026 (6)
book-rec (6)
gr-rec (6)
2023 (5)
pub-rec (14)
ala-rec (13)
2021rhc (12)
bookshop-rec (10)
arc (7)
2026 (6)
book-rec (6)
gr-rec (6)
2023 (5)
The Secret Knowledge of Water : There are Two Easy Ways to Die in the Desert: Thirst and Drowning
by
Water, stories, the body, all the things we do, are mediums that hide and show what’s hidden. Study them, and enjoy this being washed with a secret we sometimes know, and then not.
“Was there some deeper, level some plane upon which the consciousness of mountains responded to death and waste and pain? Was there a compassion embedded in the very rocks, so that they offered their beauty in compensation for human loss?”
― Walking to Mercury
― Walking to Mercury
“To my mind, joy is a constitutive part of the emotional rhetoric and comportment of those against whom the present swells at an annihilating pace. With joy, we breach the haze of suffering that denies us creativity and literature. Joy is art is an ethics of resistance.”
― A History of My Brief Body
― A History of My Brief Body
“Water in flood means exactly what it says. It has no hypocrisy. Even as it murders, it leaves life behind and carves elegant, intricate passages into raw stone, all the while having no debate about its intention. It is the same water that will sit complacently in a hole for months or years, the same arrangement of atoms that flows gently, singing lullabies, the same that fiercely consumes children and tears the walls from titanic canyons.”
― The Secret Knowledge of Water
― The Secret Knowledge of Water
“We hope for a harvest, we pray for rain, but nothing is certain. We say that the harvest will only be abundant if the crops are shared, that the rains will not come unless water is conserved and shared and respected. We believe we can continue to live and thrive only if we care for one another. This is the age of the Reaper, when we inherit five thousand years of postponed results, the fruits of our callousness toward the earth and toward other human beings. But at last we have come to understand that we are part of the earth, part of the air, the fire, and the water, as we are part of one another.”
― The Fifth Sacred Thing
― The Fifth Sacred Thing
“The desire of water is scribed across the desert like graffiti, until all that is left of the desert is water.... In the scream of a flood, consummate carvings are left behind. Careful scallops are taken from the faces of canyons. This is not random work. It is artistry distilled from madness.”
― The Secret Knowledge of Water
― The Secret Knowledge of Water
Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge
— 27046 members
— last activity Aug 28, 2026 01:35PM
An annual reading challenge to to help you stretch your reading limits and explore new voices, worlds, and genres! The challenge begins in January, bu ...more
Public Librarians
— 536 members
— last activity Jul 26, 2022 10:08PM
Yet another way to connect and work on our Readers' Advisory. ...more
Rebekah’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Rebekah’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Rebekah
Lists liked by Rebekah





























































