478 books
—
528 voters
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currently-reading (27)
read (296)
did-not-finish (0)
fiction (67)
favorites (63)
social-science (54)
memoir (53)
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bio (15)
set-aside (11)
nature (9)
audiobook-spoken (8)
crime (7)
middle-east-central-asia (7)
africa (6)
boston (6)
“Anyway.
I’m not allowed to watch TV, although I am allowed to rent documentaries that are approved for me, and I can read anything I want. My favorite book is A Brief History of Time, even though I haven’t actually finished it, because the math is incredibly hard and Mom isn’t good at helping me. One of my favorite parts is the beginning of the first chapter, where Stephen Hawking tells about a famous scientist who was giving a lecture about how the earth orbits the sun, and the sun orbits the solar system, and whatever. Then a woman in the back of the room raised her hand and said, “What you
have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back
of a giant tortoise.” So the scientist asked her what the tortoise was standing
on. And she said, “But it’s turtles all the way down!”
I love that story, because it shows how ignorant people can be. And also because I love tortoises.”
― Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
I’m not allowed to watch TV, although I am allowed to rent documentaries that are approved for me, and I can read anything I want. My favorite book is A Brief History of Time, even though I haven’t actually finished it, because the math is incredibly hard and Mom isn’t good at helping me. One of my favorite parts is the beginning of the first chapter, where Stephen Hawking tells about a famous scientist who was giving a lecture about how the earth orbits the sun, and the sun orbits the solar system, and whatever. Then a woman in the back of the room raised her hand and said, “What you
have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back
of a giant tortoise.” So the scientist asked her what the tortoise was standing
on. And she said, “But it’s turtles all the way down!”
I love that story, because it shows how ignorant people can be. And also because I love tortoises.”
― Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
“Even now, all possible feelings do not yet exist, there are still those that lie beyond our capacity and our imagination. From time to time, when a piece of music no one has ever written or a painting no one has ever painted, or something else impossible to predict, fathom or yet describe takes place, a new feeling enters the world. And then, for the millionth time in the history of feeling, the heart surges and absorbs the impact.”
― The History of Love
― The History of Love
“There's a bluebird in my heart that wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I'm not going to let anybody see you.”
―
but I'm too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I'm not going to let anybody see you.”
―
“I started inventing things, and then I couldn't stop, like beavers, which I know about. People think they cut down trees so they can build dams, but in reality it's because their teeth never stop growing, and if they didn't constantly file them down by cutting through all of those trees, their teeth would start to grow into their own faces, which would kill them. That's how my brain was.”
― Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
― Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
“At the end, all that's left of you are your possessions. Perhaps that's why I've never been able to throw anything away. Perhaps that's why I hoarded the world: with the hope that when I died, the sum total of my things would suggest a life larger than the one I lived.”
― The History of Love
― The History of Love
Bukowski
— 645 members
— last activity Jul 07, 2025 08:19AM
This is a group for fans of the dirty old man. The words he wrote kept him from total madness.
South Shore Readers
— 569 members
— last activity Apr 25, 2026 06:50PM
A group for book lovers from the South Shore area of Massachusetts. We can discuss area bookstores, libraries, favorite books, book-related events, bo ...more
Western Mass Goodreads
— 106 members
— last activity Oct 19, 2020 09:15AM
A group for residents of Western Massachusetts.
Meaghan’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Meaghan’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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