“Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.”
― The Handmaid’s Tale
― The Handmaid’s Tale
“What I need is perspective. The illusion of depth, created by a frame, the arrangement of shapes on a flat surface. Perspective is necessary. Otherwise there are only two dimensions. Otherwise you live with your face squashed up against a wall, everything a huge foreground, of details, close-ups, hairs, the weave of the bedsheet, the molecules of the face. Your own skin like a map, a diagram of futility, criscrossed with tiny roads that lead nowhere. Otherwise you live in the moment. Which is not where I want to be.”
― The Handmaid’s Tale
― The Handmaid’s Tale
“But remember that forgiveness too is a power. To beg for it is a power, and to withhold or bestow it is a power, perhaps the greatest.
Maybe none of this is about control. Maybe it isn't really about who can own whom, who can do what to whom and get away with it, even as far as death. Maybe it isn't about who can sit and who has to kneel or stand or lie down, legs spread open. Maybe it's about who can do what to whom and be forgiven for it. Never tell me it amounts to the same thing.”
― The Handmaid’s Tale
Maybe none of this is about control. Maybe it isn't really about who can own whom, who can do what to whom and get away with it, even as far as death. Maybe it isn't about who can sit and who has to kneel or stand or lie down, legs spread open. Maybe it's about who can do what to whom and be forgiven for it. Never tell me it amounts to the same thing.”
― The Handmaid’s Tale
“Don't let the bastards grind you down.”
― The Handmaid’s Tale
― The Handmaid’s Tale
Alex’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Alex’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Alex
Lists liked by Alex

























