"My purpose, my whole life, had been to love him and be with him, to make him happy." ?

"Who was strong enough to continue loving even when that love was not returned?" ?

"Is there not glory enough in living the days given to us? You should know there is adventure in simply being among those we love and the things we love, and beauty, too." ?

Didn't enjoy it so much, unfortunately. At the back of my mind I'm always thinking it's a rip-off of some "grownup" fantasy series, so I should probably steer clear of this kind of books from now on.

"The road to death is a lonely highway, and longer than it appears, even when it leads straight down from the scaffold, by way of a rope; and it's a dark road, with never any moon shining on it, to light your way." ?

"Experiences are just time passing in different ways. Time passes and continues on and on. It has nowhere else to go." ⏳

"If she too says it, or weeps, I'll take her in my arms, my lunatic. She's mad but mine, mine... Antoinetta - I can be gentle too. Hide your face. Hide yourself but in my arms. You'll soon see how gentle. My lunatic. My mad girl." ?

"What makes life meaningful enough to go on living?" ?

"I will get forgotten, but the stories will last. And so we all matter -- maybe less than a lot, but always more than none." ?

"That's the problem with history, we like to think it's a book--that we can turn the page and move the fuck on. But history isn't the paper it's printed on. It's memory, and memory is time, emotions, and song. History is the things that stay with you."

"When the times are a crucible, when the air is full of crisis, those who are the most themselves are the victims." ❇️

"He is wine and bread and deep in my stomach." ?

"Now I shall tell you of the days to come.
I shall tell you how it will end, and then how it will begin once more. These are dark days I tell you of, dark days and hidden things, concerning the ends of the earth and the death of the gods. Listen, and you will learn." - 'Ragnarok: The Final Destiny of the Gods,' from Neil Gaiman's "Norse Mythology" ✨

"People see what they wish to see. And in most cases, what they are told that they see." ?

"When a child is lost there is no end to the self-torment a parent may inflict. When we love, and the object of our love is small, weak, and vulnerable, and has looked to us and us alone for protection; and when such protection, for whatever reason, has failed, what consolation (what justification, what defense) may there possibly be?
None." ✝️

"'A name isn't a person,' Ga said. 'Don't ever remember someone by their name. To keep someone alive, you put them inside you, you put their face on your heart. Then, no matter where you are, they're always with you because they're a part of you.'" ?

"It's human nature to hold a grudge. It's hard looking forward when you have trouble figuring out what you've left behind, or rather, what's left you behind." ??

"Once more, they did not speak, but as he walked her from the subway station through the dark empty streets to Mrs Kehoe's, she felt that she was being held by someone wounded, that the letter had somehow, in its tone, made clear to him what had really happened and made plain to him also that she belonged somewhere else, a place that he could never know."

"But she did love him. I believe it. I know exactly how that is. To love somebody who doesn't deserve it. Because they are all you have. Because any attention is better than no attention." ✂️

"Everything is the way it is because everything was the way it was." ✡️

??
"'Some of us get dipped in flat, some in satin, some in gloss...' He turned to me. 'But every once in a while you find someone who's iridescent, and when you do, nothing will ever compare."

“But now isn‘t simply now. Now is also a cold reminder: one whole day later than yesterday, one year later than last year. Every now is labeled with its date, rendering all past nows obsolete, until — later or sooner — perhaps — no, not perhaps — quite certainly: it will come.”

"Believe in us." ?

It was what I expected it would be. Merry Christmas, all! Don't forget your peppermint mochas! ❄️

"What was it to love someone, what was love exactly, and why did it end or not end? Those were the real questions, and who could answer them?" ?‍❤️‍?

"Now, don't be angry after you've been afraid. That's the worst kind of cowardice." ??

I've had a copy since I was a child but got to read this only now. It is now one of my favorites.

"The world has no end, and what is good among one people is an abomination with others." ?

But why would anyone want to skip Christmas? ☃️

"Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we not Men?" ?

"'Perhaps it does us good,' he says, 'to have a fall every now and then. As long as we don't break.'" ?

Short but damn powerful. Another pleasant surprise from this Nobel Laureate whose "Grapes of Wrath" I enjoyed immensely some years ago. Reading more Steinbeck, for sure.

Reading this was a pleasant surprise. I didn't expect that I'd like it but I did. There were a few moments there when I wanted to shake everyone back to sanity, but it was all good. Loved the witty dialogue, funny characters, and the romance, of course. The family thing nearly brought tears to my eyes. And then I listened to Natalie Merchant's "Kind and Generous" as indirectly suggested by the last chapter, and that sealed the deal.

"If I ever had a plaque, I would like it to say: 'He loved the written word, and told the young.'" ?

Although half of the time, I had no idea which book or writer James was referring to, I enjoyed this extended marginalia of his readings (and rereadings). And thanks to this book, I know now more about Hemingway than I'd care to, considering that I haven't read a single book written by the man.

"My first daughter you were my dove, my summer,
my skies lifting, my waters retreating,
my covenant with the earth."
- From 'On This Earth' ?

"The most haunting woman is the one we cannot find in the crowded café when we are looking for her, the one that we must hunt for, and seek out through the disguises of her stories." ?

I don't read a lot of non-fiction, except for the occasional history or biographical book. But this one, the diary of a woman in Berlin written just before and after the fall of the city in 1945, allows a glimpse of how it is to be collateral damage. And I love its candor and honesty.

"I only know that I want to survive - against all sense and reason, just like an animal." ??

I have never read a more incoherent book than this. Everything was disjointed. I read somewhere (credible, believe me) that Marguerite Duras herself claimed that she wrote this book when she was drunk. Boy, did she.

"Who is the brave man - he who feels no fear? If so, then bravery is but a polite term for a mind devoid of rationality and imagination. The brave man, the real hero, quakes with terror, sweats, feels his very bowels betray him, and in spite of this moves forward to do the act he dreads... Sometimes, true courage requires inaction; that one sit at home while war rages, if by doing so one satisfies the quiet voice of honorable conscience."

Definitely not "To The Lighthouse" calibre, that I must say. On its own merits, it wasn't very compelling either. The characters didn't engage nor were they very interesting at all.

"But nothing is so strange when one is in love (and what was this except being in love?) as the complete indifference of other people." ❤️?

I liked the whole idea of genetic mutation, etc but I had a problem with the execution. Sure it isn't perfect but I wasn't expecting it would be that bad.

"But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin." ⚗

Loved this book! Very relevant and heartfelt, and touching.

"And when she thought about it, who wasn't always changing? Wasn't everybody always turning into someone new?" ?

"It makes you wonder. All the brilliant things we might have done with our lives if only we suspected we knew how." ?

"The one thing that we yearn for in our living days, that makes us sigh and groan and undergo sweet nauseas of all kinds, is the remembrance of some lost bliss that was probably experienced in the womb and can only be reproduced (though we hate to admit it) in death. But who wants to die?" ?

"Don't we all need reassurance? Aren't we all damaged in some way?" ?

"Everything in the universe is constantly changing, and nothing stays the same, and we must understand how quickly time flows by if we are to wake up and truly live our lives." ⌛️