“You mean,' Captain Penderton said, 'that any fulfilment obtained at the expense of normalcy is wrong, and should not be allowed to bring happiness. In short, it is better, because it is morally honourable, for the square peg to keep scraping around the round hole rather than to discover and use the unorthodox square that would fit?'…'I don't agree”
― Reflections in a Golden Eye
― Reflections in a Golden Eye
“There's more than one way to be a fragile person.”
― Wild and Crooked
― Wild and Crooked
“Does that change things?” asked the old man. “Maybe
Anansi’s just some guy from a story, made up back in Africa in
the dawn days of the world by some boy with blackfly on his leg,
pushing his crutch in the dirt, making up some goofy story
about a man made of tar. Does that change anything? People respond
to the stories. They tell them themselves. The stories
spread, and as people tell them, the stories change the tellers.
Because now the folk who never had any thought in their head
but how to run from lions and keep far enough away from rivers
that the crocodiles don’t get an easy meal, now they’re starting to
dream about a whole new place to live. The world may be the
same, but the wallpaper’s changed. Yes? People still have the
same story, the one where they get born and they do stuff and
they die, but now the story means something different to what it
meant before.”
― Anansi Boys
Anansi’s just some guy from a story, made up back in Africa in
the dawn days of the world by some boy with blackfly on his leg,
pushing his crutch in the dirt, making up some goofy story
about a man made of tar. Does that change anything? People respond
to the stories. They tell them themselves. The stories
spread, and as people tell them, the stories change the tellers.
Because now the folk who never had any thought in their head
but how to run from lions and keep far enough away from rivers
that the crocodiles don’t get an easy meal, now they’re starting to
dream about a whole new place to live. The world may be the
same, but the wallpaper’s changed. Yes? People still have the
same story, the one where they get born and they do stuff and
they die, but now the story means something different to what it
meant before.”
― Anansi Boys
“The thought was this: that all my life had been murk and depths, but I was not a part of that dark water. I was a creature within it.”
― Circe
― Circe
“Don't give me no 'but you're beautiful on the inside' bullshit."
"No, you are beautiful on the outside," I say.
"Don't give me that bullshit either. I'm beautiful when I say I'm beautiful. Let me own that shit," she says. Her eyes have not left the computer screen this whole time, but I know she's paying attention to everything I say.
"Okay, then you are ugly."
"Thanks for being honest."
"Seriously. That's what we say in Haiti. 'Nou led, men nou la.' We are ugly, but we are here."
"We are ugly, but we are here," she says, almost whispering. "I hear that.”
― American Street
"No, you are beautiful on the outside," I say.
"Don't give me that bullshit either. I'm beautiful when I say I'm beautiful. Let me own that shit," she says. Her eyes have not left the computer screen this whole time, but I know she's paying attention to everything I say.
"Okay, then you are ugly."
"Thanks for being honest."
"Seriously. That's what we say in Haiti. 'Nou led, men nou la.' We are ugly, but we are here."
"We are ugly, but we are here," she says, almost whispering. "I hear that.”
― American Street
FLASHLIGHT READERS
— 450 members
— last activity Apr 02, 2025 02:03AM
“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” ― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood ...more
Beth’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Beth’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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