2,926 books
—
5,432 voters
Katie
https://www.goodreads.com/descants
to-read
(239)
currently-reading (2)
read (1033)
dnf (14)
my-year-in-books (5)
nonfiction (85)
2017-reading-challenge (40)
memoir (37)
2019-reading-challenge (36)
kindle (35)
england (34)
short-story (27)
currently-reading (2)
read (1033)
dnf (14)
my-year-in-books (5)
nonfiction (85)
2017-reading-challenge (40)
memoir (37)
2019-reading-challenge (36)
kindle (35)
england (34)
short-story (27)
top-25-of-all-time
(24)
2020-reading-challenge (22)
japan (22)
netgalley (22)
nonfiction-favorites (22)
france (21)
hard-copy (18)
russia (16)
canada (14)
nigeria (12)
october-horror-blitzes (12)
india (10)
2020-reading-challenge (22)
japan (22)
netgalley (22)
nonfiction-favorites (22)
france (21)
hard-copy (18)
russia (16)
canada (14)
nigeria (12)
october-horror-blitzes (12)
india (10)
“I tell my students, 'When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab-bag candy game.”
―
―
“If you stare at the center of the universe, there is coldness there. A blankness. Ultimately, the universe doesn't care about us. Time doesn't care about us. That's why we have to care about each other.”
― Every Day
― Every Day
“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”
― Kafka on the Shore
― Kafka on the Shore
“But a society that protects some people through a safety net of schools, government-backed home loans, and ancestral wealth but can only protect you with the club of criminal justice has either failed at enforcing its good intentions or has succeeded at something much darker.”
― Between the World and Me
― Between the World and Me
“Distance changes utterly when you take the world on foot. A mile becomes a long way, two miles literally considerable, ten miles whopping, fifty miles at the very limits of conception. The world, you realize, is enormous in a way that only you and a small community of fellow hikers know. Planetary scale is your little secret.
Life takes on a neat simplicity, too. Time ceases to have any meaning. When it is dark, you go to bed, and when it is light again you get up, and everything in between is just in between. It’s quite wonderful, really.
You have no engagements, commitments, obligations, or duties; no special ambitions and only the smallest, least complicated of wants; you exist in a tranquil tedium, serenely beyond the reach of exasperation, “far removed from the seats of strife,” as the early explorer and botanist William Bartram put it. All that is required of you is a willingness to trudge.
There is no point in hurrying because you are not actually going anywhere. However far or long you plod, you are always in the same place: in the woods. It’s where you were yesterday, where you will be tomorrow. The woods is one boundless singularity. Every bend in the path presents a prospect indistinguishable from every other, every glimpse into the trees the same tangled mass. For all you know, your route could describe a very large, pointless circle. In a way, it would hardly matter.
At times, you become almost certain that you slabbed this hillside three days ago, crossed this stream yesterday, clambered over this fallen tree at least twice today already. But most of the time you don’t think. No point. Instead, you exist in a kind of mobile Zen mode, your brain like a balloon tethered with string, accompanying but not actually part of the body below. Walking for hours and miles becomes as automatic, as unremarkable, as breathing. At the end of the day you don’t think, “Hey, I did sixteen miles today,” any more than you think, “Hey, I took eight-thousand breaths today.” It’s just what you do.”
― A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
Life takes on a neat simplicity, too. Time ceases to have any meaning. When it is dark, you go to bed, and when it is light again you get up, and everything in between is just in between. It’s quite wonderful, really.
You have no engagements, commitments, obligations, or duties; no special ambitions and only the smallest, least complicated of wants; you exist in a tranquil tedium, serenely beyond the reach of exasperation, “far removed from the seats of strife,” as the early explorer and botanist William Bartram put it. All that is required of you is a willingness to trudge.
There is no point in hurrying because you are not actually going anywhere. However far or long you plod, you are always in the same place: in the woods. It’s where you were yesterday, where you will be tomorrow. The woods is one boundless singularity. Every bend in the path presents a prospect indistinguishable from every other, every glimpse into the trees the same tangled mass. For all you know, your route could describe a very large, pointless circle. In a way, it would hardly matter.
At times, you become almost certain that you slabbed this hillside three days ago, crossed this stream yesterday, clambered over this fallen tree at least twice today already. But most of the time you don’t think. No point. Instead, you exist in a kind of mobile Zen mode, your brain like a balloon tethered with string, accompanying but not actually part of the body below. Walking for hours and miles becomes as automatic, as unremarkable, as breathing. At the end of the day you don’t think, “Hey, I did sixteen miles today,” any more than you think, “Hey, I took eight-thousand breaths today.” It’s just what you do.”
― A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge
— 34535 members
— last activity 40 minutes ago
Are you ready to set your 2026 reading goal? This is a supportive, fun group of people looking for people just like you. Track your annual reading go ...more
Reddit
— 2322 members
— last activity May 26, 2022 02:58PM
I heard that you had a passing interest in literature...
The World's Literature in Europe
— 872 members
— last activity Dec 13, 2025 09:20PM
Literature from the many languages of Europe: Turkey -Musatalasli, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons. "Cotton miller of Kültür Turkey" -H005, CC ...more
International Reads
— 593 members
— last activity Aug 31, 2019 08:44PM
This book club's focus is on reading as diversely as possible. We hope to read books we may not otherwise have read or even heard of! This book club ...more
Womankind Worldwide Book Group
— 1636 members
— last activity Feb 11, 2023 06:14AM
Sharing women's stories and making a difference for women's rights worldwide. ...more
Katie’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Katie’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Katie
Lists liked by Katie











































