Zoë

“There was another life that I might have had, but I am having this one.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro

“Whenever someone who knows you disappears, you lose one version of yourself. Yourself as you were seen, as you were judged to be. Lover or enemy, mother or friend, those who know us construct us, and their several knowings slant the different facets of our characters like diamond-cutter's tools. Each such loss is a step leading to the grave, where all versions blend and end.”
― Salman Rushdie, The Ground Beneath Her Feet

“That's the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.”
― Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake

“I once overheard a young white man at a book festival say to his friend, “Have you read the new Kureishi? Same old thing—loads of Indian people.” To which you want to reply, “Have you read the new Franzen? Same old thing—loads of white people.”
― Zadie Smith, Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays