Arooba Ejaz
http://www.therandomwordsmith.wordpress.com/
“During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. I know not how it was--but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit. I say insufferable; for the feeling was unrelieved by any of that half-pleasureable, because poetic, sentiment, with which the mind usually receives even the sternest natural images of the desolate or terrible. I looked upon the scene before me--upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain--upon the bleak walls--upon the vacant eye-like windows--upon a few rank sedges--and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees--with an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream of the reveller upon opium--the bitter lapse into everyday life--the hideous dropping off of the veil. There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart--an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime.”
― The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales
― The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales
“In the spirit of friendship, I must tell you that I am bitterly jealous of the time you spend in the Janissaries' company. I want you to stop training with them."
"And in the spirit of friendship, I must tell you that I do not care in the slightest about your petty jealousies. I am late for my training.”
― And I Darken
"And in the spirit of friendship, I must tell you that I do not care in the slightest about your petty jealousies. I am late for my training.”
― And I Darken
“Hold hands with the devil until you are both over the bridge.
Or kill the devil and burn the bridge so no one can get to you.”
― Now I Rise
Or kill the devil and burn the bridge so no one can get to you.”
― Now I Rise
“Mehmed’s face and the feeling of his hands on her body still haunted her, though. She wished she could carve out his memory with a knife. Trace the lines of him that would not leave her, then cut them free. She would bleed, but she would not die. Still, he lingered in places no knife could ever reach.”
― Now I Rise
― Now I Rise
“Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded –with what caution –with what foresight –with what dissimulation I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him. And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it –oh so gently! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed, so that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head. Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly –very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man's sleep. It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha! –would a madman have been so wise as this? And then, when my head was well in the room, I undid the lantern cautiously –oh, so cautiously –cautiously (for the hinges creaked) –I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. And this I did for seven long nights –every night just at midnight –but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye. And every morning, when the day broke, I went boldly into the chamber, and spoke courageously to him, calling him by name in a hearty tone, and inquiring how he has passed the night. So you see he would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect that every night, just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept.”
― The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings
― The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings
Arooba’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Arooba’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Arooba
Lists liked by Arooba


















































