Soumaya

“In the University library he wandered through the stacks, among the thousands of books, inhaling the musty odor of leather, cloth, and drying page as if it were an exotic incense.”
― John Williams, Stoner

“عندما تفقد عزيزا ويستوطن السواد روحك .. تعجب كيف ان حزنك لا يصبغ الكون .. كيف ان الشمس تشرق في موعدها .. والحركة دائبة في الشوارع .. والمذياع يبث كالعادة اغاني الفرح الخفيفة .. ونشرة الاخبار على شاشة التليفزيون تنقل كل كوارث العالم سوى كارثتك العظمى”
― فاتحة مرشيد, لحظات لا غير

“There were days when she was very happy without knowing why. She was happy to be alive and breathing, when her whole being seemed to be one with the sunlight, the color, the odors, the luxuriant warmth of some perfect Southern day. She liked then to wander alone into strange and unfamiliar places. She discovered many a sunny, sleepy corner, fashioned to dream in. And she found it good to dream and to be alone and unmolested.

There were days when she was unhappy, she did not know why—when it did not seem worth while to be glad or sorry, to be alive or dead; when life appeared to her like a grotesque pandemonium and humanity like worms struggling blindly toward inevitable annihilation.”
― Kate Chopin, The Awakening

“The worst is missing them, you know? And knowing they won’t be back again. Just knowing that. Sometimes you forget and it’s as though they’re on vacation or something and you think, gee, I wish they’d call. You miss them. You forget they’re really gone. You forget the past six months even happened. Isn’t that weird? Isn’t that crazy? Then you catch yourself . . . and it’s real again.”
― Jack Ketchum, The Girl Next Door