“Leave a mark on the world. Instead, the world has left marks on us. We got older. Life chastened us so that now we lie waiting to die, or walk on canes, or sit on porches where once the young juices flowed strongly, and feel old and inept and confused.”
― Crossing to Safety
― Crossing to Safety
“There are further considerations I might raise. How do you make a book that anyone will read out of lives as quiet as these? What are the things that novelists seize upon and readers expect? Where is the high life, the kinky sex, the death wish? Where are the suburban infidelities, the promiscuities, the convulsive divorces, the alcohol, the drugs, the lost weekends? Where are the hatreds, the political ambitions, the lust for power? Where are speed, noise, ugliness, everything that makes us who we are and makes us recognizable in fiction?”
― Crossing to Safety
― Crossing to Safety
“You hear what the dean said about Jesus Christ? ‘Sure He’s a good teacher, but what’s He published?”
― Crossing to Safety
― Crossing to Safety
“Youth hasn’t got anything to do with chronological age. It’s times of hope and happiness.”
― Crossing to Safety
― Crossing to Safety
“The clear lesson of New England’s history is that when there are not enough suitable men around to run the world, women are perfectly capable of doing so.”
― Crossing to Safety
― Crossing to Safety
Mary’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Mary’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
Mary hasn't connected with her friends on Goodreads, yet.
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Mary
Lists liked by Mary















