Just as some cultures have a hundred words for “snow,” there should be a hundred words in our language for all the ways a black boy can lie awake at night.
“Pretty sure that when Glad was planning their marketing campaign, they didn’t think their target market would be a bunch of middle-aged Chinese women arguing about how to best dispose of a body.”
― Dial A for Aunties
― Dial A for Aunties
“It was actually more like this: Nina would get up and her head would hurt because she drank wine that was at least 30 percent sulfites or whatever it is that causes headaches. Her mouth would feel like the inside of one of those single socks you see on the street sometimes, and her hair would be depressed. She would stand slightly crouched by the coffee maker and shiver until the coffee was done. Sometimes her glassy eyes would rest on her visualization corner and she would resent the steady way the planet whirled around the sun without consulting her at all. Day after day, night after night, rinse and repeat. Basically, until the first slug of caffeine hit her system, she was essentially in suspended animation, and she’d been known to drool.”
― The Bookish Life of Nina Hill
― The Bookish Life of Nina Hill
“began to wonder if my panic attacks were, in fact, the side effects of exorcism, Satan’s desperate claws around my rib cage. I wanted to die. The irony haunts me to this day: my father’s love, the very force that should’ve saved our family, was ultimately the thing to destroy it.”
― Yes, Daddy
― Yes, Daddy
“After all, since the world began, we’ve been eating each other. If not symbolically, then we’ve been literally gorging on each other. The Transition has enabled us to be less hypocritical.”
― Tender Is the Flesh
― Tender Is the Flesh
“The human being is complex and I find the vile acts, contradictions, and sublimities characteristic of our condition astonishing. Our existence would be an exasperating shade of gray if we were all flawless.”
― Tender Is the Flesh
― Tender Is the Flesh
Emily’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Emily’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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