Discover new books on Goodreads
Meet your next favorite book
‘“We want to be loved,”’ quotes Britt-Marie. ‘“Failing that, admired; failing that, feared; failing that, hated and despised. At all costs we want to stir up some sort of feeling in others. Our soul abhors a vacuum. At all costs it longs
...more
“All creation necessarily ends in this: Creators, powerless, fleeing from the things they have wrought.”
― Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives
― Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives
“And perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone.”
― The Song of Achilles
― The Song of Achilles
“In order to move on, you must understand why you felt what you did and why you no longer need to feel it.”
― The Five People You Meet in Heaven
― The Five People You Meet in Heaven
“No one will understand you. It is not, ultimately, that important. What is important is that you understand you.”
― The Humans
― The Humans
“Chiron had said once that nations were the most foolish of mortal inventions. “No man is worth more than another, wherever he is from.”
“But what if he is your friend?” Achilles had asked him, feet kicked up on the wall of the rose-quartz cave. “Or your brother? Should you treat him the same as a stranger?”
“You ask a question that philosophers argue over,” Chiron had said. “He is worth more to you, perhaps. But the stranger is someone else’s friend and brother. So which life is more important?”
We had been silent. We were fourteen, and these things were too hard for us. Now that we are twenty-seven, they still feel too hard.
He is half of my soul, as the poets say. He will be dead soon, and his honor is all that will remain. It is his child, his dearest self. Should I reproach him for it? I have saved Briseis. I cannot save them all.
I know, now, how I would answer Chiron. I would say: there is no answer. Whichever you choose, you are wrong.”
― The Song of Achilles
“But what if he is your friend?” Achilles had asked him, feet kicked up on the wall of the rose-quartz cave. “Or your brother? Should you treat him the same as a stranger?”
“You ask a question that philosophers argue over,” Chiron had said. “He is worth more to you, perhaps. But the stranger is someone else’s friend and brother. So which life is more important?”
We had been silent. We were fourteen, and these things were too hard for us. Now that we are twenty-seven, they still feel too hard.
He is half of my soul, as the poets say. He will be dead soon, and his honor is all that will remain. It is his child, his dearest self. Should I reproach him for it? I have saved Briseis. I cannot save them all.
I know, now, how I would answer Chiron. I would say: there is no answer. Whichever you choose, you are wrong.”
― The Song of Achilles
Niki’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Niki’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
85 books
|
42 friends
11 books
|
4 friends
29 books
|
2 friends
217 books
|
25 friends
191 books
|
5 friends
237 books
|
14 friends
44 books
|
12 friends
57 books
|
2 friends
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Niki
Lists liked by Niki