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It explains the great quandary of why the most depressed societies are those with the fewest wants.

It explains the great quandary of why the most depressed societies are those with the fewest wants.

Victor (Troy’s/Donald’s psychiatrist who killed himself) reflects on the futility of life:

“… the most depressed societies are those with the fewest wants.”

Victor (Troy’s/Donald’s psychiatrist who killed himself) reflects on the futility of life:

“… the most depressed societies are those with the fewest wants.”

Nice quote regarding a Revolution:

‘That word means something else, you know,’ his father had told him once, when Mission had spoken of revolution. ‘It also means to go around and around. To revolve. One revolution, and you get right back to where you started.’

Cover art by Charles Addams of “Addams Family” fame. This novel (a collection of short stories) was started in 1945 and Ray Bradbury originally intended this to be a collaboration with the artwork of Charles Addams. It was finished in 2000 by Bradbury alone, 55 years later.

"Angelina means like an angel, yes? And Marguerite is a flower?"
"Yes," someone said.
"Well then," murmured Timothy. "Flowers and angels. Not ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. Angels and flowers."
"Let's drink to that," said all.
And they did. pg 153

“Life is a visit, rounded by sleeps.”

Spoken by Angelina Marguerite who rose from the grave and aged backwards to the “Eternity before Time” where she would reenter the womb as “a seed stored in the honeycomb of some maiden/wife, eager for collisions, ripe for life”. pg 151

Sunsets are loved because they vanish.
Flowers are loved because they go.
The dogs of the field and the cats of the kitchen are loved because soon they must depart. pg 149

"Timothy." Einar's wings clamored like kettledrums. Timothy, a thimble, was set on Einar's shoulder. "Cheer up, nephew. How much richer things are for you. Our world is dead. All tombstone-gray. Life's best to those who live least, worth more per ounce, more per ounce!" pg 64

“Without the light, no chance; without the dark, no dance. Which meant that even bad things did some good because they were a challenge and you didn't always know what good effects they might have.”
~ from “The Year of the Flood” by Margaret Atwood, pg 279

“‘Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.’ That is the point: not seen. We cannot know God by reason and measurement; indeed, excess reason and measurement lead to doubt…” pg 234-235

“the Fall of Man was multidimensional. The ancestral primates fell out of the trees; then they fell from vegetarianism into meat-eating. Then they fell from instinct into reason, and thus into technology; from simple signals into complex grammar, and thus into humanity; from firelessness into fire, and thence into weaponry; and from seasonal mating into an incessant sexual twitching… ever downward.” Pg 188

“Suicide used to be called ‘death by misadventure’.”

~ from The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood, pg 183.

Great book!

“Adam One said music was built into us by God: we could sing like the birds but also like the angels, because singing was a form of praise that came from deeper than just talking, and God could hear us better when we were singing. I try to remember that.”

~ “The Year of the Flood” by Margaret Atwood, pg 129. This is book # 2 of “The MaddAddam Trilogy”; “Oryx and Crake” was Book # 1.

Even though Zane Grey’s morality and “political correctness” are outdated, I still enjoy his descriptions, settings and story lines. It’s a nice glimpse of the Old West (even if idealized & fabricated), and it a nice flashback to the perspectives of the early 1900s.

Stephen King never fails to please - these 4 novellas are great!

This is a thought-provoking series! Orson Scott Card addresses relevant and complex human issues in an intriguing sci-fi setting. Fantastic!