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currently-reading (27)
read (296)
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fiction (67)
favorites (63)
social-science (54)
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bio (15)
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crime (7)
middle-east-central-asia (7)
africa (6)
boston (6)
“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
“The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.”
― Animal Dreams
― Animal Dreams
“That's the problem with drinking, I thought, as I poured myself a drink. If something bad happens you drink in an attempt to forget; if something good happens you drink in order to celebrate; and if nothing happens you drink to make something happen.”
― Women
― Women
“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
“If you're looking for sympathy you'll find it between shit and syphilis in the dictionary.”
― Barrel Fever: Stories and Essays
― Barrel Fever: Stories and Essays
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
— 562 members
— last activity Feb 23, 2026 01:27PM
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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