“What about little microphones? What if everyone swallowed them, and they played the sounds of our hearts through little speakers, which could be in the pouches of our overalls? When you skateboarded down the street at night you could hear everyone's heartbeat, and they could hear yours, sort of like sonar. One weird thing is, I wonder if everyone's hearts would start to beat at the same time, like how women who live together have their menstrual periods at the same time, which I know about, but don't really want to know about. That would be so weird, except that the place in the hospital where babies are born would sound like a crystal chandelier in a houseboat, because the babies wouldn't have had time to match up their heartbeats yet. And at the finish line at the end of the New York City Marathon it would sound like war.”
― Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
― Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.”
―
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“We need enormous pockets, pockets big enough for our families and our friends, and even the people who aren't on our lists, people we've never met but still want to protect. We need pockets for boroughs and for cities, a pocket that could hold the universe.”
― Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
― Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
“In bed that night I invented a special drain that would be underneath every pillow in New York, and would connect to the reservoir. Whenever people cried themselves to sleep, the tears would all go to the same place, and in the morning the weatherman could report if the water level of the Reservoir of Tears had gone up or down, and you could know if New York is in heavy boots.”
― Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
― Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
“I hated myself for going, why couldn't I be the kind of person who stays?”
― Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
― Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Sandra’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Sandra’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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