Some lovely books have found their way to me lately. Here are some of the passages I’ve been dog-earing for you.

A :-) xo

On Reunion:

“I close my eyes and fall into a dream. I am flying again. I am high above the pointy housetops and scratchy trees and somewhere in the stars. […] I feel my Lorraine. She is keeping me warm. Her arms are strong, she can hold me up, and I am so happy to be with her. My Rain, my sweet girl. The clouds are so bright around us, and we can fly right into them. So we do. We fly fast, quick as a current. […] I hold on to my Lorraine, my sweet, sweet girl, and my whole body feels like nothing, like nothing else matters. Not the hurt, or the blame or the pain. It all goes away. We point north. I see a blur of stars and the white winter moon, and we just go.”

The Break by Katherina Vermette, 2016: 337.

On What Makes You Happy:

“Tracey’s tower came into view, above the horse chestnuts, and with it reality. […] She was right above me, on her balcony, in a dressing gown and slippers, her hands in the air, turning, turning, her children around her, everybody dancing.”

Swing Time by Zadie Smith, 2016: 453.

On Dreams and Disappointment:

“I swallowed my tears. […] I kept smiling. […] But nothing diminished the the disappointment. I struggled to detach myself from a sort of fog in my mind, a painful drop of tension, and I couldn’t. I discovered that I had considered the publication of those few lines, my name in print, as a sign that I really had a destiny, that the hard work of school would surely lead upward, somewhere […].”

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, 2012:329.