“I wanted to crawl in between those black lines of print, the way you crawl through a fence, and go to sleep under that beautiful big green fig-tree.”
― The Bell Jar
― The Bell Jar
“It was my first big chance, but here I was, sitting back and letting it run through my fingers like so much water.”
― The Bell Jar
― The Bell Jar
“I will describe my eyes and then begin the story. My eyes are blue and resplendent. Now I will begin the story.”
― Everything Is Illuminated
― Everything Is Illuminated
“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”
― The Bell Jar
― The Bell Jar
“What about little microphones? What if everyone swallowed them, and they played the sounds of our hearts through little speakers, which could be in the pouches of our overalls? When you skateboarded down the street at night you could hear everyone's heartbeat, and they could hear yours, sort of like sonar. One weird thing is, I wonder if everyone's hearts would start to beat at the same time, like how women who live together have their menstrual periods at the same time, which I know about, but don't really want to know about. That would be so weird, except that the place in the hospital where babies are born would sound like a crystal chandelier in a houseboat, because the babies wouldn't have had time to match up their heartbeats yet. And at the finish line at the end of the New York City Marathon it would sound like war.”
― Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
― Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
#buriedreadalong
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— last activity Jun 30, 2015 03:23PM
Starting June 1st, we'll be reading The Buried Pyramid. Read at your own pace, but be sure to drop by and let us know how it's going! ...more
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— last activity May 30, 2026 12:12AM
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— last activity Apr 19, 2026 09:01AM
Welcome to the official group page of the T5W! This weekly book meme officiated in November 2013 and is still going strong! Join the group to become a ...more
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— 14 members
— last activity Jun 15, 2017 04:22PM
The goal of this group is to spread poetry on any Social Media site that you engage in. ex. Youtube, Facebook, Tumblr, etc.
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— 86 members
— last activity Oct 14, 2015 02:58PM
A group dedicated to reading the long/short listed books of The Man Booker Prize 2014
Katie’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Katie’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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