1. 03 November 2009
    “She was terrific to hold hands with. Most girls, if you hold hands with them, their goddam hand dies on you, or else they think they have to keep moving their hands all the time, as if they were afraid they’d bore you or something. Jane was different. We’d get into a goddam movie or something, and right away we’d start holding hands, and we won’t quite till the movie was over. And without changing the position or making a deal out of it. You never even worried, with Jane, whether your hand was sweaty or not. All you knew was, you were happy. You really were.”
    J.D Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

    book love crush

  2. 19 October 2009
    “He had decided, without consulting me, not to bring a flash on this trip. The flash is for weddings and funerals, he said. What needs to be photographed will be photographed.”
    Aleksander Hemon, The Lazarus Project (via thebronzemedal)

    photography book

  3. 10 October 2009
    “Being a nerd, which is to say going too far and caring too much about a subject, is the best way to make friends I know. For me, the spark that turns an acquaintance into a friend has usually been kindled by some shared enthusiasm like detective novels or Ulysses S. Grant.”
    Sarah Vowell, The Partly Cloudy Patriot

    book friendship

  4. 08 October 2009
    “The part that got me was, there was a lady sitting next to me that cried all through the goddamn picture. The phonier it got, the more she cried. You’d have thought she did it because she was kindhearted as hell, but I was sitting right next to her, and she wasn’t. She had this little kid with her that was bored as hell and had to go to the bathroom, but she wouldn’t take him. She kept telling him to sit still and behave himself. She was about as kindhearted as a goddamn wolf. You take somebody that cries their goddamn eyes out over phony stuff in the movies, and nine times out of ten they’re mean bastards at heart. I’m not kidding.”
    J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

    book tears authenticity

  5. 28 September 2009
    “If you feel betrayed by culture, it’s not because you’re right and the universe is fucked; it’s only because you’re not like most other people. But this should make you happy, because—in all likelihood—you hate other people, anyway. You are being betrayed by a culture that has no relationship to who you are or how you live. […] Don’t get pissed off over the fact that the way you feel about culture isn’t some kind of universal consensus. Because if you do, you will end up feeling betrayed. And it will be your own fault. You will feel bad, and you will deserve it.”
    Chuck Klosterman, IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas

    book culture anger

  6. 23 September 2009
    “There comes a time in every life when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart. So you’d better learn to know the sound of it. Otherwise you’ll never understand what it’s saying.”
    Sarah Dessen, Just Listen 

    book quiet heart

  7. 18 September 2009
    “I wanted to be the person [he] told things to. I wanted him to think I was pretty, I wanted him to be reminded of me by stuff I liked— pistachios and hooded sweatshirts and the Dylan song ‘Girl from the North Country’— and I wanted him to miss me when we were apart. I wanted him to feel, when we were lying in bed together, like he couldn’t imagine anywhere better.”
    Curtis Sittenfeld, Prep

    book love

  8. 16 September 2009
    “I hadn’t been out to the hives before, so to start off she gave me a lesson in what she called ‘bee yard etiquette’. She reminded me that the world was really one bee yard, and the same rules work fine in both places. Don’t be afraid, as no life-loving bee wants to sting you. Still, don’t be an idiot; wear long sleeves and pants. Don’t swat. Don’t even think about swatting. If you feel angry, whistle. Anger agitates while whistling melts a bee’s temper. Act like you know what you’re doing, even if you don’t. Above all, send the bees love. Every little thing wants to be loved.”
    Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

    book human condition life

  9. 07 September 2009
    “And I like you. You’re funny, and you’re smart, and you may show up late, but you always show up eventually.”
    John Green, Paper Towns

    book friendship loyalty

  10. 24 August 2009
    “It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know. It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly moment of dark surprise as you try and readjust the way you thought of things.”
    Lemony Snicket, Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can’t Avoid

    book death grief