Annie Barrows > Quotes

“That's what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you onto another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It's geometrically progressive-- all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“Men are more interesting in books than they are in real life.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“We clung to books and to our friends; they reminded us that we had another part to us.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“I am a grown woman-- mostly-- and I can guzzle champagne with whomever I choose.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“We could have gone on longing for one another and pretending not to notice forever. This obsession with dignity can ruin your life if you let it.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“If I could have anything I wanted, I would choose story without end, and it seems I have lots of company in that.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“You know how I love talking about books, and you know how I adore receiving compliments.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“The wonderful thing about books--and the thing that made them such a refuge for the islanders during the Occupation--is that they take us out of our time and place and understanding, and transport us not just into the world of the story, but into the world of our fellow readers, who have stories of their own.”
― Annie Barrows

“Then he felt remorseful, which was so unlike him and endearing that I almost changed my mind and said yes. But then I imagined a lifetime of having to cry to get him to be kind, and I went back to no again.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“Ivy! It's a natural disaster! You have to be there!”
― Annie Barrows, Ivy and Bean: Take Care of the Babysitter - Book 4

“There had been a problem in Bean's house. The problem was staples. Bean loved staples. She loved them so much that she had stapled things that weren't supposed to be stapled. The things looked better stapled, but her mother didn't think so, and now Bean was outside.

She was going to be outside for a long time.”
― Annie Barrows, Ivy and Bean What's the Big Idea?

“[I] threw open the door to find Rob sit­ting on the low stool in front of my book­case, sur­round­ed by card­board box­es. He was seal­ing the last one up with tape and string. There were eight box­es - eight box­es of my books bound up and ready for the base­ment!

"He looked up and said, 'Hel­lo, dar­ling. Don't mind the mess, the care­tak­er said he'd help me car­ry these down to the base­ment.' He nod­ded to­wards my book­shelves and said, 'Don't they look won­der­ful?'

"Well, there were no words! I was too ap­palled to speak. Sid­ney, ev­ery sin­gle shelf - where my books had stood - was filled with ath­let­ic tro­phies: sil­ver cups, gold cups, blue rosettes, red rib­bons. There were awards for ev­ery game that could pos­si­bly be played with a wood­en ob­ject: crick­et bats, squash rac­quets, ten­nis rac­quets, oars, golf clubs, ping-​pong bats, bows and ar­rows, snook­er cues, lacrosse sticks, hock­ey sticks and po­lo mal­lets. There were stat­ues for ev­ery­thing a man could jump over, ei­ther by him­self or on a horse. Next came the framed cer­tificates - for shoot­ing the most birds on such and such a date, for First Place in run­ning races, for Last Man Stand­ing in some filthy tug of war against Scot­land.

"All I could do was scream, 'How dare you! What have you DONE?! Put my books back!'

"Well, that's how it start­ed. Even­tu­al­ly, I said some­thing to the ef­fect that I could nev­er mar­ry a man whose idea of bliss was to strike out at lit­tle balls and lit­tle birds. Rob coun­tered with re­marks about damned blue­stock­ings and shrews. And it all de­gen­er­at­ed from there - the on­ly thought we prob­ably had in com­mon was, What the hell have we talked about for the last four months? What, in­deed? He huffed and puffed and snort­ed and left. And I un­packed my books.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“Reading good books spoils you for enjoying bad books.”
― Annie Barrows

“Grandpa, that's something I never am....Lonesome in my spirits”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“It suddenly struck me that Dawsey is a lonesome person. I think it may be that he has always been lonely, but he didn't mind before, and now he minds.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“Would you kiss a rat on the lips?”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“If I could believe I had a soul, all by myself, then I could listen to its tidings all by myself.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society