“Much of the greatest art, I find, seeks to remind us of the obvious. This is real. That's all it says. Take the time to stop and imagine or feel fully the things you already know.”
― All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me
― All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me
“If families resemble trees, as they say, arborescent structures with entangled roots and individual branches jutting out at awkward angles, family traumas are like thick, translucent resin dripping from a cut in the bark. They trickle down generations.”
― The Island of Missing Trees
― The Island of Missing Trees
“Beware, beware three maidens fair
With bloody hands and divine air.
Help not the girl whom others blame
She’ll burn the world to ash and flame.
Trust not the girl with the golden crown
She’ll take what’s yours and watch you drown.
And my Lily Maid will scream and cry.
She’ll break them both and then she’ll die.”
― Half Sick of Shadows
With bloody hands and divine air.
Help not the girl whom others blame
She’ll burn the world to ash and flame.
Trust not the girl with the golden crown
She’ll take what’s yours and watch you drown.
And my Lily Maid will scream and cry.
She’ll break them both and then she’ll die.”
― Half Sick of Shadows
“People assume it’s a matter of personality, the difference between optimists and pessimists. But I believe it all comes down to an inability to forget. The greater your powers of retention, the slimmer your chances at optimism.”
― The Island of Missing Trees
― The Island of Missing Trees
“Because in real life, unlike in history books, stories come to us not in their entirety but in bits and pieces, broken segments and partial echoes, a full sentence here, a fragment there, a clue hidden in between. in life, unlike in books, we have to weave our stories out of threads as fine as the gossamer veins that run through a butterfly's wings.”
― The Island of Missing Trees
― The Island of Missing Trees
Susan’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Susan’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Susan
Lists liked by Susan






































