Weblog of Quotes and Rants

The Secret Keeper is the second book by Kate Morton that I have read, the first being The Forgotten Garden.  They both involve weaving intertwined stories from the past and present into a sort of mystery, but with very human elements. I found them throughly enjoyable.

Some quotes:

It's a terrible thing, isn't it, the way we throw people away?” 

It is queer, but my love and longing for the world are always deepened by my absence from it; it's wondrous, don't you think, that a person can swing from despair to gleeful hunger, and that even during these dark days there is happiness to be found in the smallest things? 

It was unsettling, Laurel thought, suppressing a shiver, how quickly a person's presence could be erased, how easily civilization gave way to wilderness. 

I am currently 5/6 through "Winter's Tale".  I can't decide if the reason I haven't finished it is that the version I've been listening to is difficult to use without going over my cellular data limit, or if it just got too weird. Too wordy. Too...I really don't know.  Normally I like weird and unusual, but this just keeps spreading out more and more and I no longer have a handle on the point of it.  Maybe I'll just watch the movie.

Read more

This was a very interesting, personal look into the world of slavery in the early and mid 1800s. It also touched on women's issues as well, so I could relate and be extra outraged.  I definitely enjoy this book, and the audio version is great. It alternates between two readers, one for the daughter of slave owners, and one for the slave she (unwillingly) owned.

A couple of quotes I liked:

“If you must err, do so on the side of audacity.”
― Sue Monk Kidd

“I saw then what I hadn't seen before, that I was very good at despising slavery in the abstract, in the removed and anonymous masses, but in the concrete, intimate flesh of the girl beside me, I'd lost the ability to be repulsed by it. I'd grown comfortable with the particulars of evil. There's a frightful muteness that dwells at the center of all unspeakable things, and I had found my way into it.”
― Sue Monk Kidd

Overall, I enjoyed this book.  I liked the semi-epistolary format, wherein it alternates between the diary of a Japanese schoolgirl, and the life of the American woman reading the diary.  There was a lot of interesting cultural information (to me, as an American) and very interesting settings.

At times I found the tone/language of the diary segments a little bit annoying or silly, but of course, that's precisely how they should be, in the voice of the young girl.  I especailly liked the parts with the grandmother, probably because the reader (this was in audiobook format) did a great job with her voice.

And now for a couple quotes that I liked:

“Sometimes when she told stories about the past her eyes would get teary from all the memories she had, but they weren't tears. She wasn't crying. They were just the memories, leaking out.” 

― Ruth Ozeki

“Information is a lot like water; it's hard to hold on to, and hard to keep from leaking away.” 

― Ruth Ozeki

I finished listening to "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt a while ago.  For once, either my luck/skill at choosing books, or my agreeableness, has failed me.  I wasn't thrilled with this book.  It definitely had its moments, but it also lost me a lot of times.  I had trouble identifying with the protagonist.  And the whole thing was much longer than I think it really needed to be.  That said, I'm sure there are many people that will enjoy the story.  I'm simply not one of them.  

The author does have a way with words:

But sometimes, unexpectedly, grief pounded over me in waves that left me gasping; and when the waves washed back, I found myself looking out over a brackish wreck which was illumined in a light so lucid, so heartsick and empty, that I could hardly remember that the world had ever been anything but dead.

I'm not sure entirely how I feel about The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton.  I would put it under the "do read" category, but  I think I missed out on some of the nuances having listened to the story rather than read the book.  Apparently the book has some astrogolgical charts and graphs.  Pretty much all of the astrological references went right past me. The narrator (Mark Meadows) did a fantastic job with his accents and distinguishing the different characters.   

Get the book: The Luminaries  

Get the audio book: The Luminaries (Audible)

The structure was semi apparent, given that each section is half as long as the previous.  The unique structure was most obvious at the end, where part 12 just flew by, matter of factly, making me think maybe something was wrong with the audio book :)

After finishing the book, I decided to read some Audible reviews, to see what other people thought of it.  There was a very mixed selection of "loved it!!!11!!!" and "meh" and "boooring".  I understand how some people could find such a lengthy and repetative book to be boring, but this book made me excited for my daily subway commutes.  So I guess I didn't find it boring.  I found the cast of characters intriguing and the details of the overarching mystery to be compelling.   

 “Love cannot be reduced to a catalogue of reasons why, and a catalogue of reasons cannot be put together into love.” 
― Eleanor Catton The Luminaries

 “For although a man is judged by his actions, by what he has said and done, a man judges himself by what he is willing to do, by what he might have said, or might have done—a judgment that is necessarily hampered, not only by the scope and limits of his imagination, but by the ever-changing measure of his doubt and self-esteem.” 

― Eleanor Catton The Luminaries

I just finished reading (okay, listening to) Rebecca by Daphe du Maurier.

It is an English novel published in 1938.  Mysterious and atmospheric, it presents a tale with a simple plot and complex characters.  Once again, so many problems could have been avoided through better communication.

There is not a lot of action, but the writing and descriptions are enjoyable.  Worth reading.

A couple quotes I enjoyed:

“Happiness is not a possession to be prized, it is a quality of thought, a state of mind.” 

“If only there could be an invention that bottled up a memory, like scent. And it never faded, and it never got stale. And then, when one wanted it, the bottle could be uncorked, and it would be like living the moment all over again.” 

“Men are simpler than you imagine my sweet child. But what goes on in the twisted, tortuous minds of women would baffle anyone.”  

“I wondered how many people there were in the world who suffered, and continued to suffer, because they could not break out from their own web of shyness and reserve, and in their blindness and folly built up a great distorted wall in front of them that hid the truth.” 

I'm partway through The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel by Neil Gaiman and it is great!

“Nobody actually looks like what they really are on the inside,” Lettie tells the boy. “Grown-ups don’t look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they’re big and thoughtless and they always know what they’re doing. Inside, they look just like they always have. Like they did when they were your age. The truth is, there aren’t any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world … Except for Granny, of course.”

- Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane

I highly recommend the audiobook. Gaiman reads it himself and his voice is great.

Read more