Cozy Reading Times

“Some won't want to root for a Palestinian chick wrestling with the best white culture has to offer, miffed that I dare to stage their tragedies as if they were comedies.”
― Betty Shamieh, Too Soon

“Certain things are always with us.” She counted on her fingers. “One: scarcity. Limited space and resources. Two: the need to maintain order, which, when things are scarce, is always under threat. Three: surplus. Too many people, not enough stuff: the result is extra people. What are you going to do with all these extra people? If you’re smart, you’ll turn them into a business. That’s the Hold. So there will always be a Hold. Because the Ship is a problem. And the Hold is the answer.”
― Sofia Samatar, The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain

“To act onstage is to revel in the slipperiness of life, to be yourself and not yourself at the same time. It's the one time you can take two journeys at once.”
― Betty Shamieh, Too Soon

“The only thing that feels real to me is that
my mother is gone.
In some ways, this year after I lost my mom has been a time of excavation. I spend it trying to discover who she was.”
― Betty Shamieh, Too Soon