Sadie

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The Nationality a...
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  (page 87 of 224)
Dec 02, 2025 04:02PM

 
The War That Does...
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The History of Eu...
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  (page 101 of 185)
Jun 21, 2025 03:04PM

 
See all 7 books that Sadie is reading…
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Donna Tartt
“You can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can also look at a picture for a second and think of it all your life.”
Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch

Donna Tartt
“I look at the blanked-out faces of the other passengers--hoisting their briefcases, their backpacks, shuffling to disembark--and I think of what Hobie said: beauty alters the grain of reality. And I keep thinking too of the more conventional wisdom: namely, that the pursuit of pure beauty is a trap, a fast track to bitterness and sorrow, that beauty has to be wedded to something more meaningful.

Only what is that thing? Why am I made the way I am? Why do I care about all the wrong things, and nothing at all for the right ones? Or, to tip it another way: how can I see so clearly that everything I love or care about is illusion, and yet--for me, anyway--all that's worth living for lies in that charm?

A great sorrow, and one that I am only beginning to understand: we don't get to choose our own hearts. We can't make ourselves want what's good for us or what's good for other people. We don't get to choose the people we are.

Because--isn't it drilled into us constantly, from childhood on, an unquestioned platitude in the culture--? From William Blake to Lady Gaga, from Rousseau to Rumi to Tosca to Mister Rogers, it's a curiously uniform message, accepted from high to low: when in doubt, what to do? How do we know what's right for us? Every shrink, every career counselor, every Disney princess knows the answer: "Be yourself." "Follow your heart."

Only here's what I really, really want someone to explain to me. What if one happens to be possessed of a heart that can't be trusted--? What if the heart, for its own unfathomable reasons, leads one willfully and in a cloud of unspeakable radiance away from health, domesticity, civic responsibility and strong social connections and all the blandly-held common virtues and instead straight toward a beautiful flare of ruin, self-immolation, disaster?...If your deepest self is singing and coaxing you straight toward the bonfire, is it better to turn away? Stop your ears with wax? Ignore all the perverse glory your heart is screaming at you? Set yourself on the course that will lead you dutifully towards the norm, reasonable hours and regular medical check-ups, stable relationships and steady career advancement the New York Times and brunch on Sunday, all with the promise of being somehow a better person? Or...is it better to throw yourself head first and laughing into the holy rage calling your name?”
Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch

Haruki Murakami
“I'm tired of living unable to love anyone. I don't have a single friend - not one. And, worst of all, I can't even love myself. Why is that? Why can't I love myself? It's because I can't love anyone else. A person learns how to love himself through the simple acts of loving and being loved by someone else. Do you understand what I am saying? A person who is incapable of loving another cannot properly love himself.”
Haruki Murakami, 1Q84

Haruki Murakami
“If you can love someone with your whole heart, even one person, then there's salvation in life. Even if you can't get together with that person.”
Haruki Murakami, 1Q84

Donna Tartt
“A great sorrow, and one that I am only beginning to understand: we don’t get to choose our own hearts. We can’t make ourselves want what’s good for us or what’s good for other people. We don’t get to choose the people we are.”
Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch

179584 Our Shared Shelf — 222955 members — last activity 2 hours, 3 min ago
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
733559 Loosely Bound Book Club — 648 members — last activity Aug 29, 2019 05:53AM
A very laid back book club focusing on a book from a different genre every month.
837308 Fox Book Club — 2534 members — last activity Dec 09, 2021 07:05AM
Welcome to the Fox Book Club! This is fun supportive group for anyone wanting to buddy read with me. For 2020, I thought we could read my "20 book ...more
1111928 Buzzwordathon — 6263 members — last activity Feb 24, 2026 01:54PM
The Buzzword Readathon (#buzzwordathon) is a monthly readathon, running the first week of each month (1st through 7th). Each month will have a designa ...more
1065386 Literally Dead Book Club — 16525 members — last activity Feb 18, 2026 12:04PM
A mostly monthly book club (February-November) focused on thriller/mystery/horror hosted by BooksandLala and a rotating set of wonderful co-hosts! li ...more
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year in books
Emma
1,288 books | 7,800 friends

August
713 books | 600 friends

Linnea ...
304 books | 8 friends

Somya
0 books | 540 friends

chloe
92 books | 4 friends

judy!
31 books | 1 friend

Taylor ...
145 books | 3 friends

Gabby
2,626 books | 6,984 friends

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