1,247 books
—
1,872 voters
Discover new books on Goodreads
Meet your next favorite book
to-read
(863)
currently-reading (17)
read (763)
did-not-finish (2)
fantasy (313)
ya (269)
classics (231)
romance (183)
realistic-fiction (145)
owned (97)
queer-reading (87)
currently-reading (17)
read (763)
did-not-finish (2)
fantasy (313)
ya (269)
classics (231)
romance (183)
realistic-fiction (145)
owned (97)
queer-reading (87)
dark-academia
(81)
non-fiction (75)
poc-authors (66)
favorites (61)
dystopian (60)
sci-fi (56)
thriller (54)
horror (45)
genre-defying (42)
religious (40)
african-american-lit (38)
non-fiction (75)
poc-authors (66)
favorites (61)
dystopian (60)
sci-fi (56)
thriller (54)
horror (45)
genre-defying (42)
religious (40)
african-american-lit (38)
“If dirty words frighten you...I really don’t know how you have managed to live so long. People are full of dirty words. The only time they do not use them, most people I mean, is when they are describing something dirty.”
― Giovanni’s Room
― Giovanni’s Room
“Love him,’ said Jacques, with vehemence, ‘love him and let him love you. Do you think anything else under heaven really matters? And how long, at the best, can it last, since you are both men and still have everywhere to go? Only five minutes, I assure you, only five minutes, and most of that, helas! in the dark. And if you think of them as dirty, then they will be dirty— they will be dirty because you will be giving nothing, you will be despising your flesh and his. But you can make your time together anything but dirty, you can give each other something which will make both of you better—forever—if you will not be ashamed, if you will only not play it safe.’ He paused, watching me, and then looked down to his cognac. ‘You play it safe long enough,’ he said, in a different tone, ‘and you’ll end up trapped in your own dirty body, forever and forever and forever—like me.”
― Giovanni’s Room
― Giovanni’s Room
“Who are you? A simple son of the soil, as you pretend to yourself? Oh, no. You, too, are among the infirm—you are the dreamer, the madman in a madder world, our own midwestern Don Quixote without his Sancho, gamboling under the blue sky… But you have the taint, the old infirmity. You think there's something here, something to find. Well, in the world you'd learn soon enough. You, too, are cut out for failure; not that you'd fight the world. You'd let it chew you up and spit you out, and you'd lie there wondering what was wrong. Because you'd always expect the world to be something it had no wish to be. The weevil in the cotton, the worm in the beanstalk, the borer in the corn. You couldn't face them, and you couldn't fight them; because you're too weak, and you're too strong. And you have no place to go in the world.”
― Stoner
― Stoner
“He smiled, "Why, you will go home and then you will find that home is not home anymore. Then you will really be in trouble. As long as you stay here, you can always think: One day I will go home." He played with my thumb and grinned. "N'est-ce pas?"
"Beautiful logic," I said. "You mean I have a home to go to as long as I don't go there?"
He laughed. "Well, isn't it true? You don't have a home until you leave it and then, when you have left it, you never can go back.”
― Giovanni’s Room
"Beautiful logic," I said. "You mean I have a home to go to as long as I don't go there?"
He laughed. "Well, isn't it true? You don't have a home until you leave it and then, when you have left it, you never can go back.”
― Giovanni’s Room
“Much has been written of love turning to hatred, of the heart growing cold with the death of love. It is a remarkable process. It is far more terrible than anything I have ever read about it, more terrible than anything I will ever be able to say.”
― Giovanni’s Room
― Giovanni’s Room
Nilay’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Nilay’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Nilay
Lists liked by Nilay






































