“All power is cursed,‘ I say. ‘The most terrible among us will do anything to get it, and those who‘d wield power best don‘t want it thrust upon them.”

This book had a lot of elements that I normally love, which might be the problem. I have read this story before, and the other versions were better. This was not a horrible reading experience, but something felt missing. I usually find myself liking some of the most “unlikable” characters, but couldn‘t connect to any of these girls.

“This was why he had done it, not because of guilt or pride but because this was the moment he‘d been waiting for: the chance to show someone else wonder, to watch them realize that they had not been lied to, that the world they‘d been promised as children was not something that had to be abandoned, that there really was something lurking in the wood, beneath the stairs, between the stars, that everything was full of mystery.”

“‘Oh, this is boring,‘ Gideon had said in disappointment. ‘I wanted one with a skull puking another, smaller skull, and other skulls flying all around. But tasteful, you know?‘”

This was an excellent book. World-building + characters + plot + dialogue + so many innovative ideas I haven‘t seen before...this was totally out of my wheelhouse and totally worth it 💀💀💀

“She laughed for his sake, something she‘d never done. Giving away another piece of herself just to have someone else.”

“...it just makes them compliment me on my ‘proportions‘ a lot. I think what they‘re really saying is ‘Gosh, you‘re big, but without being particularly fat!‘ or, ‘Well done on being tall but not lanky!‘ Or perhaps, ‘You are confusing my gender norms by being very woman-shaped despite the fact that you are the height and width of an average male!‘”

This one gave me a lot to think about...No one else is writing the stories Bryn Greenwood is writing, and they are never easy. Both unsettling and fascinating, in the end I really enjoyed this read.

“‘The other day she called me ‘Father‘ he said. ‘Like we‘re on Little House on the Prairie.‘

Evvie frowned. ‘That‘s ‘Pa,‘ though.

‘Who am I thinking of? Who‘s called ‘Father‘?‘

‘Priests,‘ she said. ‘And Captain von Trapp.‘”

(This book is all about the dialog. Think #gilmoregirls level banter)

“‘I see you‘ve been spending a great deal of time alone with Magister Thorn. Has he declared his intentions?‘

‘I wish he would,‘ Elizabeth said. ‘He hardly makes sense half the time. Knowing his intentions would be helpful.‘

Nathaniel made a choking sound. ‘She doesn‘t mean it that way,‘ he assured everyone, taking Elizabeth‘s arm. ‘She‘s a feral librarian, you see—raised by booklice, very tragic...‘”

#ferallibrarian is my new life goal 😂

“A sense of self-importance permeated the culture. So did machismo and knee-jerk conservatism. To get by, I told my colleagues that I didn‘t care about politics, which felt like a ridiculous thing to claim. They bought it, though. Very few of those men understood having no choice about whether they were political or not: unlike me, they weren‘t people who‘d had their existence politicized on their behalf.”

Behold, my copy of Beloved from high school, back when our country‘s greatest literature was printed in mass market paperback. I remember my awe that every word, every sentence, was perfection. You could not change a single word because each one was just exactly what it needed to be. She will always be an inspiration. #tonimorrison #literarylegend

“They believed, based on anecdotal evidence and prurient wishful thinking, that fires were set by young peasant women...In time, scientists began realizing that all women got periods, not just peasants and not just arsonists, and so perhaps a better explanation was needed to explain arson.”

(This is good writing, folks)

This book is everything. Love Mira Jacob and love her willingness to call us all (including herself and her husband) out for our racist assumptions.

“I was having an emotion, and I hate that.”

“BILLY: Karen was just a great musician. That was all there was to it. I always say I don‘t care if you‘re a man, woman, white, black, gay, straight, or anything in between—if you play well, you play well. Music is a great equalizer in that way.

KAREN: Men often think they deserve a sticker for treating women like people.”

“Science has taught me that everything is more complicated than we first assume, and that being able to derive happiness from discovery is a recipe for a beautiful life.”

“I hated when he gendered the stupid truck. To retaliate, I called my boobs Brock and Chad, which my dad hated with equal fervor.”

“You eliminate the parts of your life that others find strange—maybe that‘s what everyone means when they say they want to “cure” me.”

“When people love something so much it fuses with what they wear, I feel this instant connection to them. The melding of passion and fashion is the song of my people.”

“Anne was right to smash her slate over Gilbert‘s head—fuck him for calling her Carrots.”

This was not a bad book, but it was not for me. I felt like it was 10% interesting and 90% impenetrable.

“It‘s like it doesn‘t even matter if I like my body, because there‘s always someone there to remind me I shouldn‘t.”

(This book was fantastic. I literally both laughed and cried, and I can‘t think of the last book that made me do that.)

“Sometimes Stevie felt bad for her parents. Their idea of what constituted interesting was so limited. They were never going to have as much fun as she did.”

(This was so much fun, but leaves you hanging like woah)

“We talk politics. I am becoming quite bookish. I am even thinking of acquiring spectacles.”

“We are all free to be assholes, but we are not free to do so without consequence.”

“If you can have one square of triple-thin-crust pizza and happily close the top of the box and put it in your refrigerator until the next day and not wake up periodically throughout the night asking yourself whether or not you made a huge mistake then maybe this is not the book for you. BITCHES GOTTA EAT.”

"The boy asks the girl a question. It is a question of marriage. Ask me again tomorrow, she says, and he says, That's not how this works."

(This book is deadpan and honest and funny and a must-read for anyone who has ever floundered in graduate school. I could have pulled out a perfect quote from nearly every page)

Oddly enough, I think this might be my favorite of the Lara Jean trilogy.

"I feel like I need to speak out, because if no one speaks out, if no one says, This is me, this is what I believe in, and this is why I'm different, and this is why it's okay, then what's the point?"

"I am not an extraordinary beauty, but I hold up medium well under scrutiny. I got my thing going on."

"You have to take nothing with you when you go. That's the trick...Otherwise it's hard to move on. You're a clean slate. You're anyone. You're no one at all."

"I want to feel this way all the time. To be able to laugh about the things that have happened to me, baggage and all, light and dark. To own it handily enough so that it could be funny and horrifying at once."

"Food was always the way back in. Why hadn't she thought of it? Jane liked fine dining as much as the next girl, but really she always wanted something salty and fried that could be eaten with chopsticks."

"You know, you think you're keeping your girls all pure and unsullied in this gilded cage of yours. But what you don't seem to realize is that you can protect children from the world, but you can't protect children from themselves."

"There's nothing stopping you from acting with the same urgency the dying feel...Become who you want to be while you can enjoy it. Don't put off doing the work of becoming who you want to be. Waiting will not make it easier, and time is short."

"Most five-year-olds will agree that they are artists. Most twelve-year olds will insist that they are not. This is unacceptable."

"There is something wrong with my stomach, an ulcer maybe, and I know I shouldn't be drinking but I seem to be incapable of living the kind of life where I eat nutritious meals and exercise and go to bed at a decent hour, or I can only live like this for a short period of time before fucking it all up again."

"There is such freedom in being able to celebrate and appreciate the unique moments that recharge you and give you peace and joy. Sure, some people want red carpets and paparazzi. Turns out I just want banana popsicles dipped in malibu rum. It doesn't mean I'm a failure at appreciating the good things in life. It means for I'm successful in recognizing what the good things in life are for me."

"Victor totally owes me, because he would have gone to jail automatically because he was wearing only a half-shirt, and if you aren't wearing a whole shirt when the police come, you go to jail. That's how jail works.

Just to clarify, it's a half-shirt in that it's sleeveless. It's not the kind that ends under his nipples. Victor can't really pull that sort of look off. I don't know whether you go to jail for that kind of shirt."

"Mirrors reminded me that it was what was on the outside that counted."

"Girls had to believe in everything but their own power, because if girls knew what they could do, imagine what they might."

"Have you ever had the experience where you thought what you were doing was a good thing but later learned that it had hurt someone? At the time, you were totally unconcerned, oblivious to the other persons feelings. This is somewhat similar to the way many of us treat our socks."

"[He] would find a way to see himself as the hero, no matter what he did. That's where he starts: with the idea that he's the good guy, so whatever he's doing must be right. Then he works backwards from there to figure out how."

"I read to be alone. I read so as not to be alone."

"[Our mother] knew how to serve mint tea and sliced oranges w onions and olives, if she was making a bisteeya, and never put a meal together in a careless, eclectic, or incoherent way. the meal was always organized correctly, traditionally, which I now appreciate, but as a kid, pigeon was not a treat, even if it was served w the traditional condiments."

"She's the one I thought I knew but didn't." Worse still, she's the one who knew me. Her words give me a picture of myself I don't recognize."

"I wanted to say, My life is full. I chose this life because it's a constant assault of color and taste and light and its raw and ugly and fast and it's mine."

"I could imagine her leaning forward from time to time, asking for a joke to be repeated or pointing out some funny road sign. Trying to campaign for her own existence, before finally giving up and lying back on the seat."