Hoda Marmar

“How can one be well when one suffers morally? Is it possible to remain at ease in our time, if one has any feeling?”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

“Aah, the books! The thought of the enormous pleasure of books quickened Asma’s pace. It was a good moment to lose herself in their joys.”
― Jokha Alharthi, Celestial Bodies

“كنت قاسيًا، كنت مختلًّا في الواقع، وأعرف أنّني مختلّ، أستطيع استخراج الشوك حتّى من حديقة لا تحوي سوى زهور ملساء.”
― أمير تاج السر, جزءٌ مؤلم من حكاية

“This is women’s way of feeling time pass, that sinister clockwork inching round the roundness of the body; the slow gathering of endometrial cells, a nesting, a fluffing of pillows ready to receive guests, the ripeness of the womb, fleshy and welcoming, all neat and tidy and, yes, ready to receive guests, even one, just a casual visitor, anything. And then realisation that the arrival time has been and gone, and no one is coming; the tearing of the wallpaper, great swathes of it, and tears of disappointment, of ageing, of loneliness. The womb revolts and shudders. The painters are in.”
― Emma van Straaten, Creep