Stephanie > Recent Status Updates

"... why am I showing you? Because you've got to know. You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're facing it."

Reading for Read Christie 2026.
October's Theme: Best Cold Case

"Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' hippogriffs is, they're proud. Easily offended, hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do."

Reading for Read Christie 2026.
September's Theme: Best According to Agatha

"It means that the Chamber of Secrets is indeed open again."

"The Third Age of the world is ended, and the new age is begun; and it is your task to order its beginning and to preserve what may be preserved."

“And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.”

"The Eagles are coming! The Eagles are coming!"

✨ Happy Back to Hogwarts Day! ✨

I decided to give the full cast audiobook a try with this reread. 😊

"Arise, arise, Riders of Théoden!
Fell deeds awake: fire and slaughter!
spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered,
a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!"

“We are truth-speakers, we men of Gondor. We boast seldom, and then perform, or die in the attempt. [. . .] Even if I were such a man as to desire this thing, and even though I knew not clearly what this thing was when I spoke, still I should take those words as a vow, and be held by them.”

“Fates be with you...”

“Wise man trusts not to chance-meeting on the road in this land.”

"Trusting someone is one thing, lad. Trusting them with your life is another entirely."

“The Dead Marshes, yes, yes: that is their name. You should not look in when the candles are lit.”

"The mind has its own natural defenses; as I said, it already goes to some lengths to protect our thoughts."

"Every man who holds a sword in his hand, holds murder in his heart."

“No, the burned hand teaches best. After that advice about fire goes to the heart.”

“None knows what the new day shall bring him.”

”Dark have been my dreams of late, but I feel as one new-awakened.”

Reading for Read Christie 2026.
August's Theme: Beloved Duo

Sidenote: The official and alternative books by Read Christie are all Tommy & Tuppence's. Since I'm not a fan (and I cannot stand Tuppence), I decided to go with a Poirot and Hastings book instead.

Some of my kin look just like tress now, and need something great to rouse them; and they speak only in whispers."

"They are proud and willful, but they are true-hearted, generous in thought and deed; bold but not cruel; wise but unlearned..."


There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark."

“I suppose . . . even if you find what you're afraid of, you'll still have a choice moving forward. If you're a good man now . . . well, what you did in the past is in the past. There's no reason you can't continue to be a good man in the future.”

“All that I wanted, I received
All that I dreamed, I achieved
All that I feared, I conquered
All that I hated, I destroyed
All that I loved, I saved
And so I lay down my head, weary with despair
For all that I needed, I lost.”

“There are always reasons for these things.”

... Huh.

Following along with the audiobook with my paperback copy, which was a gift from my mom (to cheer me up after experiencing hives caused by my grandmother and for how miserable she's made our month be overall), and there are times where the audiobook's dialogue is completely different to the one in the book. I wonder why that is. 🤔

"Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadows to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight."

““Death is a part of life.”

Ugh.

I might have to dnf because once it reached chapter 10, the audiobook decided to have issues. I deleted the files, re-downloaded them in the hopes it would play smoothly, and it's still breaking up sentences. 🤦

"The living have no place at the feasts of the dead."

". . . madness and greatness are two sides of the same coin. Every time a new Targaryen is born, he said, the gods toss the coin in the air and the world holds it breath to see how it will land."