443 books
—
232 voters
“When I was a kid there was a TV interstitial during Saturday morning cartoons with a song that went like this: "The most important person in the whole wide world is you, and you hardly even know you. / You're the most important person!" Is this not the absolute worst thing you could instill in a child? They're the most important person? In the world? That's what they already think. You need to teach them the opposite.”
― Bossypants
― Bossypants
“The library is full of stories of supposed triumphs which makes me very suspicious of it. It's misleading for people to read about great successes, since even for middle-class and upper-class white people, in my experience, failure is the norm”
― Hocus Pocus
― Hocus Pocus
“Funny thing how it is. If a man owns a little property, that property is him, it's part of him, and it's like him. If he owns property only so he can walk on it and handle it and be sad when it isn't doing well, and feel fine when the rain falls on it, that property is him, and some way he's bigger because he owns it. Even if he isn't successful he's big with his property. That is so.'
'But let a man get property he doesn't see, or can't take time to get his fingers in, or can't be there to walk on it - why, then the property is the man. He can't do what he wants, he can't think what he wants. The property is the man, stronger than he is. And he is small, not big. Only his possessions are big - and he's the servant of his property. That is so, too.”
― The Grapes of Wrath
'But let a man get property he doesn't see, or can't take time to get his fingers in, or can't be there to walk on it - why, then the property is the man. He can't do what he wants, he can't think what he wants. The property is the man, stronger than he is. And he is small, not big. Only his possessions are big - and he's the servant of his property. That is so, too.”
― The Grapes of Wrath
“This is to assuage our conscience, darling" she would explain to Blanca. "But it doesn't help the poor. They don't need charity; they need justice.”
― The House of the Spirits
― The House of the Spirits
“Do you take pride in your hurt? Does it make you seem large and tragic? ...Well, think about it. Maybe you're playing a part on a great stage with only yourself as audience.”
― East of Eden
― East of Eden
The Dusty Bookshelf
— 807 members
— last activity Oct 16, 2018 08:15AM
A group to motivate you to read all those books that have been sitting on your shelf for years and collecting dust. Plus you can discuss your books wi ...more
Monika’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Monika’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Adult Fiction, Biography, Classics, Ebooks, Fiction, Historical fiction, Memoir, Non-fiction, Poetry, Travel, and War
Polls voted on by Monika
Lists liked by Monika














































