“He was making her feel small and absurdly petulant and, worse yet, she suspected he was right. She always suspected he was right. For a brief irrational moment, she wished she could walk away from him. Then she wished, more rationally, that she could love him without needing him. Need gave him power without his trying; need was the choicelessness she often felt around him.”
― Half of a Yellow Sun
― Half of a Yellow Sun
“But she was seventeen now and not actually dumb. She knew that you could love somebody more than anything and still not love the person all that much, if you were busy with other things.”
― Freedom
― Freedom
“Patty knew, in her heart, that he was wrong in his impression of her. And the mistake she went to go on to make, the really big life mistake, was to go along with Walter's version of her in spite of knowing that it wasn't right. He seemed so certain of her goodness that eventually he wore her down.”
― Freedom
― Freedom
“A person who longs to leave the place where he lives is an unhappy person.”
― The Unbearable Lightness of Being
― The Unbearable Lightness of Being
“It's like Tolstoy said. Happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story.”
― Kafka on the Shore
― Kafka on the Shore
Our Shared Shelf
— 223281 members
— last activity Dec 16, 2025 12:22AM
OUR SHARED SHELF IS CURRENTLY DORMANT AND NOT MANAGED BY EMMA AND HER TEAM. Dear Readers, As part of my work with UN Women, I have started reading ...more
The Stranded Book Club
— 239 members
— last activity Apr 24, 2020 12:30PM
The Stranded Book Club will inspire you to rediscover the staples on your bookshelf, the literature you've always been recommended but never actually ...more
Helen’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Helen’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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