Once, in my father's bookshop...

Once, in my father's bookshop, I heard a regular customer say that few things leave a deeper mark on a reader than the first book that finds its way into his heart. Those first images, the echo of words we think we have left behind, accompany us throughout our lives and sculpt a palace in our memory to which, sooner or later—no matter how many books we read, how many worlds we discover, or how much we learn or forget—we will return. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Comfort

"We revisit

old feelings for

the same reason

we re-read books --

comfort in words familiar

even though we

know the endings."

Bookshops Are...

via

Yep. They are.

 

 

Isn't It Odd...

"Isn't it odd how much fatter a book gets when you've read it several times?" Mo had said..."As if something were left between the pages every time you read it. Feelings, thoughts, sounds, smells...and then, when you look at the book again many years later, you find yourself there, too, a slightly younger self, slightly different, as if the book had preserved you like a pressed flower...both strange and familiar."

~ Cornelia Funke

This happens to be one such book for me. Out of many, I might add!

What book is it for you?

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

"The man that I named The Giver passed along to the boy, knowledge, history, memories, color, pain, laughter, love, and truth. Every time you place a book in the hands of a child, you do the same thing. It is very risky. But each time a child opens a book, he pushes open the gate that separates him from Elsewhere. It gives him freedom. Those are magnificent, wonderfully unsafe things."

~ Lois Lowry

via

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope all my American readers are having a lovely day full of family, food, and fun. And that everyone else is having a wonderful day as well! :)

Isn't It Odd.....

"Isn't it odd how much fatter a book gets when you've read it several times? As if something were left between the pages every time you read it. Feelings, thoughts, sounds, smells....and then, when you look at the book again many years later, you find yourself there too, a slightly younger self, slightly different, as if the book had preserved you like a pressed flower...both strange and familiar." ~Cornelia Funke

Goodnight Dear Void...

Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life - well, valuable, but small - and sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave? So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around? I don't really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So good night, dear void.

This is for Amber, who says she's known at the "You've Got Mail" Quoting Queen! :D (Which totally makes sense. I mean, this movie is simply so quotable!)

Be An Enthusiast!

I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life...if you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it at full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it, and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good either. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be.

~ Roald Dahl

I knew I liked him. Now I'm convinced I need to read one of his books! ;)

 

 

 

Notable Quotables

Just wanted to share some book quotes I've highlighted in my Kindle with you. Whether first lines, last lines, or ones in the middle, some words just make beautiful when all strung together. :)

...he raised an eyebrow but said nothing. I like that about him. Sometimes words shouldn't be spoken. ~ Dear Mr. Knightley by Katherine Reay

For me, reading a book is an experience I like to savor. While I'm in the world of a story, the characters become more real to me than the people in my own life. If I'm having a bad day, I look forward to coming home and rejoining my friends on the page. ~ A Breath of Eyre by Eve Marie Mont

Believe is a powerful word to see and to say. But that morning, I felt it. And feeling it was the best of all. ~ A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd

If the right person tells a story, I guess it doesn't matter how many times you've heard it. Your heart still hears it brand new. ~ A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd

...sometimes the best adventures are the ones that scare you the most. ~ Paige Turned by Erynn Mangum

He said that we need to be like ducks because they dive under the water, look for something of substance, and if they don't find it, they pop back out and let the rest of the water roll down their backs. They don't fester on it or soak in it, so to speak. ~ Paige Turned by Erynn Mangum

I guess sometimes participation is just standing there and letting someone do something for you because she needs to do that something for herself. ~ Going Vintage by Lindsey Leavitt

(Hopefully a review or two will be coming soon! In case you wondered. :)

Second-hand Books Are Wild Books...

 

Second-hand books are wild books, homeless books; they have come together in a vast flock of variegated feather and have a charm which the domesticated volumes of the library lack. Besides, in this random miscellaneous company we may rub against some complete stranger who will, with luck, turn into the best friend we have in the world.

~ Virginia Woolf

I saw this quote on.....Pinterest, I think? (And just had to share it with you, of course!) I love it. Because it's so true!

Well.......

Okay.

I admit it.

One big reason I like buying used books, is because they're so much cheaper. Yep! I confess. But truly, is there any better feeling than finding a book (especially a book you've been wanting!), in nice condition, for not very much money?

I trust you answered 'no' to that question.

Second-hand or used bookstores are a wonderful thing as well. I've renewed my acquaintance with a favorite spot from my childhood. And when I walked in, the owner remembered me and welcomed me back! That was a pretty great feeling. So, yeah, I've been back a time or three since. ;)

Used books and the bookstores or yard sales or thrift stores you find them in, they are a fabulous thing. And I hope as long as there are avid readers like me around, that there will always be the spots where we can find our stories. And for a little less money!

Chasing The Sweetness

quote from The Bee Tree

I was over at my cousin's house the other day, reading a library book to his children. I found this quote and loved it! So of course I had to take a photo of it. And then share it with you. There is such wonderful sweetness found in stories! :)

Quoting

This is just a quick stop in. I have at least two reviews I need to write and for some reason they haven't written themselves. Go figure. I promise they are coming though! :)

So instead, I thought I'd share some bits and pieces of words strung together that create loveliness. I'm a quote person anyway. Perhaps you've noticed that little Goodreads quote box on the sidebar? The number of quotes I've "liked" on Goodreads is atrociously large! There are so many awesome people who can string together a bunch of words and create awe-inspiring sentences and paragraphs. This skill is most certainly an enviable one, I admit. I string together words around here and am satisfied so I post it, then days or weeks later I read it again and wonder what on earth I was thinking! But that's neither here nor there, is it?

Anyway, this was part of a blog post over here. I thought these words absolutely worth sharing.

Life is not easy and it was never intended to be, for a life well-lived will always be overflowing with maddening goodness and breath-taking badness, with easy and hard, and with wondrous beauty and ferocious ugly. And you’ll be tired and weary, you’ll question and fear, you’ll feel confusion and doubt.

I hope you’ll always know that when the world is dark and you’re absolutely unsure of everything, that you’ll find him at the water’s edge. You’ll see his power in the thundering waves that smash upon the shore. You’ll feel him in the salty spray that covers you, in the wind that sweeps up your hair and makes it dance. You’ll marvel in the sunlight and moonlight that sparkles across the water. And that you’ll know in this moment, when you stand before the great big sea, that the creator of the universe is with you. And find his boundless love pouring out in the roaring and crashing and spraying and sparkling.

My darlings, if you dare to live, you’ll often be lonely. If you dare to dream, you’ll have to jump into the unknown and sometimes the unknown will be more like a place where you set up camp and stay for a while, rather than a brief moment or a quick visit. You’ll face opposition in a world full of logic and reason and the masses won’t understand.  And you’ll feel small, oh so small, but, my dear ones,  be brave, be free, be strong.  His love is an ocean.

13 (randomly chosen) Favorite First Lines

Isn't this one of the rules for writing a story, that the first line needs to hook the reader in? Or something like that anyway. I do think this is true. That first line either grabs me or it doesn't. Yet it takes more than that before I've made up my opinion on the story. I usually have to read at least the first paragraph or the first page or two to tell whether I want to keep reading or not. But that first line may end up being what I remember if it's written well. I can only imagine the pressure that writers feel to try and get that line just right. It can't be easy.

One thing I do know. While a well-written sentence can hook me in, that doesn't mean the story itself will. (note: all the books I've listed below are ones I've read and that I like. A lot.) I've certainly started a story having fun and ended up disappointed. And likewise, a poorly-written sentence may hide a jewel of a story within! But remember, this is all subjective to my own opinions of what's well-written and what's not, of course. :)

Anyway. I decided to share some of my favorite first lines with you today. This is just a few of them. This is not all of them by far. But if I did a post of all of them, it would never be over and you'd be sick of me and never come back and I would be sad and things would be awful and life would be over! I can't let that happen! So this is just a few. A few first lines from a few books that I picked up at random from my shelves, basically. But they wouldn't be here if I didn't like them. You'll also be getting a small look at the eclectic mix of books I read. Bravely go onward!

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that  single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." ~ Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Come on. You knew I'd have at least one of Austen's books on this list. Right? And why not this one? It's a classic! For good reason. It's an awesome sentence. :D

"Hiding in plain sight, the old man crept through the halls of the palace, his ancient heart keeping pace with the shifting of his black eyes." ~ Serena Chase, The Ryn

This line totally drew me in. I immediately wanted to know more! Who was this man? What palace? How old is ancient? And black eyes? Intriguing. Very intriguing! Well done, Ms. Chase.

"The first Wednesday in every month was a Perfectly Awful Day--a day to be awaited with dread, endured with courage and forgotten with haste." ~ Jean Webster, Daddy Long Legs

And of course you knew I'd name this one too, didn't you? It's only one of my absolute favorite books ever! I already expounded on the delights of this story before, so I won't again. But I love this line.

"Would it kill you to get here before noon? I'm sitting here among the shards of my life as I know it, and you....if I know you, you just woke up." ~ Rainbow Rowell, Attachments

Firstly, we don't know who's talking. But whoever they're talking to has to be my kind of person, because I like to sleep in too. (What can I say? I'm a night owl. :) And secondly, "shards of my life"? Sounds dire, right? Or someone pretty snarky. Tell me more! (Chocolate chip cookies to anyone who can name the musical that line is from! Hint-it's from a song. A catchy song that never leaves my head once I start singing it.) (And those chocolate chip cookies are metaphorical by the way. But I'll still give them to you! Who doesn't like chocolate chip cookies, metaphorical or not?)

"There once was a girl who'd been praying for a husband since the fourth grade." ~ Becky Wade, My Stubborn Heart

So you can tell immediately that this is going to be a romance. And I love a good romance in a story! (I freely admit to being a hopeless romantic.) And this girl is determined! Since the fourth grade? Wow.

"Nothing creates buzz like an Executive Deluxe day planner. Not that I have much experience with buzzes, especially of the chemical variety, but my brother did double-dose me on NyQuil once when I was eleven." ~ Lindsey Leavitt, Sean Griswold's Head

Who gets excited over a day planner? Someone who is obviously a good girl. A good girl whose life is about to be shaken.

"For two hours a night, Monday through Saturday, Isadora Presley became the girl she'd lost." ~ Susan May Warren, My Foolish Heart

I love that line! Really love it. I think it may be one of my top favorite lines ever. If that doesn't make you curious about Isadora, I don't know what will.

"For years, I could not recall the day without a smoldering coal of remorse burning within me." ~ Julie Klassen, The Silent Governess

Julie Klassen is an amazing writer. I don't think it's possible for her to write a bad book. And what a way to start a story! The descriptions she writes leap off the page. Can't you imagine that hot, smoldering coal inside? And what memory causes this reaction? We must know more! Read this book. Seriously. Read it. Or pick any one of her books. They're all awesome!!

"There are so many ways it could have all turned out differently." ~ Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

 And then she proceeds to name all the decisions that could have changed the way things happened. A story of coincidences and timing and falling in love. I'm not usually a believer in love at first sight, but this story? It made me believe in it. At least until I was completely done reading. :)

"Someone's car was totaled and it wasn't my fault. But who's going to believe a teenager?" ~ A & E Kirk, Demons at Deadnight

And thus begins Aurora's story. Don't let the title fool you. The demons aren't good and the characters are out to defeat them. But what a ride! Aurora is awesome. Enough said.

"Sometimes I think about when I was little, and my older brothers would take me out to fly kites." ~ Jenny B. Jones, There You'll Find Me

This line strikes me because I have older brothers myself. Granted, I'm not sure they ever took me out to fly kites, but I do have wonderful memories from when we were younger. So this line makes me eager for more about these sibling relationships!

"It only takes a day and a half for the dreams to find me again." ~ Lisa McKay, My Hands Came Away Red

A fabulous first line for a fabulous story! Go. Go read it right now. Drop everything and go read it right now!

"My father took one hundred and thirty-two minutes to die. I counted." ~ Melina Marchetta, Jellicoe Road

Another fabulous story. My words to describe it? I have none. It's an experience you must read for yourself. So do that, okay? :)

Fairy Tales

"Fairy tales, then, are not responsible for producing in children fear, or any of the shapes of fear; fairy tales do not give the child the idea of the evil or the ugly; that is in the child already, because it is in the world already. Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The babe has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination.  What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon."

G. K. Chesterton

I think maybe what resonates in fairy tales and fantasy stories (at least for me), is the idea that ordinary people can do amazing things! Yes, some have the help of magic and such, but most of the time the villains are defeated by someone who simply needed to realize how strong they actually are on the inside. And that good will defeat evil!

That's true for us too. That's why it resonates. Because we need reminded that we are all: ordinary people learning that we have the power to do extraordinary things!