Recently Read: A Wrinkle in Time
“It seemed to travel with her, to sweep her aloft in the power of song, so that she was moving in glory among the stars, and for a moment she, too, felt that the words Darkness and Light had no meaning, and only this melody was real.”
I had somehow never read this when I was in middle school, and after raiding our giant room of books at school I decided it was time. It’s so good! The sci-fi/fantasy world Madeleine L’Engle created was so beautiful and fantastic, all while including so many puns and plays on words! And I loved reading a book for young people with such a strong leading lady. Please drop everything you’re doing and go read it if you haven’t done so yet.
“Those Who Don’t”
Those who don’t know any better come into our neighborhood scared. They think we’re dangerous. They think we will attack them with shiny knives. They are stupid people who are lost and got here by mistake.
But we aren’t afraid. We know the guy with the crooked eye is Davey the Baby’s brother, and the tall one next to him in the straw brim, that’s Rosa’s Eddie V., and the big one that looks like a dumb grown man, he’s Fat Boy, though he’s not fat anymore nor a boy.
All brown all around, we are safe. But watch us drive into a neighborhood of another color and our knees go shakity-shake and our car windows get rolled up tight and our eyes look straight. Yeah. That is how it goes and goes.
- Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street
At night, after the exhausting games of canasta, we would look out over the immense sea, full of white-flecked and green reflections, the two of us leaning side by side on the railing, each of us far away, flying in his own aircraft to the stratospheric regions of our own dreams. There we understood that our vocation, our true vocation, was to move for eternity along the roads and seas of the world. Always curious, looking into everything that came before our eyes, sniffing out each corner but only ever faintly - not setting down roots in any land or staying long enough to see the substratum of things; the outer limits would suffice.”
— Ernesto Che Guevara, The Motorcycle Diaries
Underlined passage, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
What I’ve Read Since My Last Book Post (in November?)
Galapagos
Going After Cacciato
Black Sexual Politics
The Indespensible Zinn
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?
Bossypants
The Last Unicorn
Copper Sun
Just Kids
Son of Neptune
Motorcycle Diaries
audio books : Harry Potter 1-4
what I’m currently reading:
HP 3 (en francais)
The Brothers Karamazov
HP 5 (audiobook)
I also just bought 6 books this weekend. Oops.
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.
- Fellowship of the Ring
Happy birthday, JRR Tolkein. Thanks for the stories.
The common room was packed and noisy. Everyone was eating the food that had been sent up. Hermione, however, stood alone by the door, waiting for them. There was a very embarrassed pause. Then, none of them looking at each other, they all said “Thanks,” and hurried off to get plates.
But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can’t share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.
— Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone
I am eternally grateful for my knack of finding in great books, some of them very funny books, reason enough to feel honored to be alive, no matter what else might be going on.”
—
Kurt Vonnegut, Timequake
Postcard found in a book:
Howdy from the West! Let’s go round up the herd, then chow down on some green chili. Maybe it’s time to start a commune in Navajo Hogan in Ariz for New Yorkers. Look forward to seeing you, all the best, — and —
nypl:
Our friends at The New Yorker’s Photo Booth bloghave a fascinating slideshow featuring books as muses. The image above is just one of 14 interesting photographs that feature bookish inspiration. Enjoy!
gahhhhhhhh. drool.
Harry was just thinking that all he needed was for Dumbledore’s pet bird to die while he was alone in the office with it, when the bird burst into flames.”
— Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
