“Loving someone is like moving into a house," Sonja used to say. "At first you fall in love with all the new things, amazed every morning that all this belongs to you, as if fearing that someone would suddenly come rushing in through the door to explain that a terrible mistake had been made, you weren't actually supposed to live in a wonderful place like this. Then over the years the walls become weathered, the wood splinters here and there, and you start to love that house not so much because of all its perfection, but rather for its imperfections. You get to know all the nooks and crannies. How to avoid getting the key caught in the lock when it's cold outside. Which of the floorboards flex slightly when one steps on them or exactly how to open the wardrobe doors without them creaking. These are the little secrets that make it your home.”
― A Man Called Ove
― A Man Called Ove
“Everything is going to be all right. Or, if not, everything is going to be, so let's not worry.”
― How to Stop Time
― How to Stop Time
“Whenever I see someone reading a book, especially if it is someone I don't expect, I feel civilisation has become a little safer.”
― How to Stop Time
― How to Stop Time
“If there was a God up there, He must be laughing His head off at a human race capable of making atomic bombs and building artificial intelligence, but still uncomfortable with their own mortality and unable to sort out what to do with their dead. How pathetic it was to try to relegate death to the periphery of life when death was at the centre of everything.”
― 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World
― 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World
“We’d do anything for them, they never know because they don’t understand the immensity of something that is unconditional. A parent’s love is unbearable, reckless, irresponsible. They’re so small when they sleep in their beds and we sit beside them, shattered to pieces inside. It’s a lifetime of shortcomings and feeling guilty, we stick happy pictures up everywhere but we never show the gaps in the photograph album, where everything that hurts is hidden away. The silent tears in darkened rooms. We lie awake, terrified of all the things that can happen to them, everything they might be subjected to, all the situations in which they could end up victims.”
―
―
Katie’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Katie’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Katie
Lists liked by Katie























