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She loved Hugo with that superb kind of love a mother has for a male child, a love that is deeper and more pure for knowing that he’ll more than likely turn out a fool.
“Although sex was something they both regarded as perilous, marriage had, by contrast, seemed safe—a safe house in a world of danger; the ultimate haven of two solitary, fearful souls. When you were single, this was what everyone who was already married was always telling you. Daniel himself had said it to his unmarried friends. It was, however, a lie. Sex had everything to do with violence, that was true, and marriage was at once a container for the madness between men and women and a fragile hedge against it, as religion was to death, and the laws of physics to the immense quantity of utter emptiness of which the universe was made. But there was nothing at all safe about marriage. It was a doubtful enterprise, a voyage in an untested craft, across a hostile ocean, with a map that was a forgery and with no particular destination but the grave.”
― Werewolves in Their Youth
― Werewolves in Their Youth
“astute drivers will echo local inflections like the “Pittsburgh left,” that act of driving practiced primarily in the Steel City (but also Beijing) in which the change of a traffic light to green is an “unofficial” signal for a left-turning driver to quickly bolt across the oncoming traffic. New arrivals to Los Angeles soon become versed in the “California roll,” a.k.a. the “sushi stop,” which involves never quite coming to a complete halt at a stop sign.”
― Traffic
― Traffic
“With my aversion to this cat, however, its partiality for myself seemed to increase.”
― The Black Cat
― The Black Cat
“my hope is that you’ll join me in choosing a text of your own to treat as sacred—something you already love, that you already find yourself turning to again and again. We can all benefit from the ancient practices of sacred reading.”
― The Power of Ritual: Turning Everyday Activities into Soulful Practices
― The Power of Ritual: Turning Everyday Activities into Soulful Practices
“They heard the thud of wood on flesh. Boot on bone. On teeth. The muffled grunt when a stomach is kicked in. The muted crunch of skull on cement. The gurgle of blood on a man’s breath when his lung is torn by the jagged end of a broken rib.
Blue-lipped and dinner-plate-eyed, they watched, mesmerized by something that they sensed but didn’t understand: the absence of caprice in what the policemen did. The abyss where anger should have been. The sober, steady brutality, the economy of it all.
They were opening a bottle.
Or shutting a tap.
Cracking an egg to make an omelette.”
― The God of Small Things
Blue-lipped and dinner-plate-eyed, they watched, mesmerized by something that they sensed but didn’t understand: the absence of caprice in what the policemen did. The abyss where anger should have been. The sober, steady brutality, the economy of it all.
They were opening a bottle.
Or shutting a tap.
Cracking an egg to make an omelette.”
― The God of Small Things
Margaret Atwood's Handbag Appreciation Society
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Named after our patron saint, who appeared on stage for a live interview in San Francisco wearing her coat and handbag. She proceeded to kick the mode ...more
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Book club for Goodreads employees and alumni. We're a reading machine! In addition to this group, we have some other interest-specific reading groups ...more
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A group for former members of the Goodreads team (and for any current members who want to swing by!)
Books Of Your Life with Elizabeth
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This is a place to discuss the books featured in the Books Of Your Life with Elizabeth podcast. Everyone is welcome. Please share! Subscribe to the ...more
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