In 2020 We All Need To Listen To This Quote From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

I think you should learn, of course, and some days you must learn a great deal. But you should also have days when you allow what is already in you to swell up inside of you until it touches everything. And you can feel it inside of you. If you never take time out to let that happen, then you must accumulate facts, and they begin to rattle around inside of you. You can make noise with them, but never really feel anything with them. It’s hollow.
— From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

Quotable 2016

One of my favorite things to do is to write down quotes from my favorite books in my reading journal. Here are some of the best from 2016.

She was upbeat and harmless as an educational toy, and it was never insincere - in fact, she was a one-woman plague of sincerity, the Patient Zero of earnest zeal.
— Kitchens of the Great Midwest
If we want to see people take risks, we have to be prepared to sometimes see them fail.
— Leaving Orbit
She had such a demanding relationship with her own reflection. Rosaleen challenged her looks, and they rose to meet her.
— The Green Road
The miracle was a quiet thing: I open my eyes and was given a chance to try.
— Left for Dead
Never discount the possibility of turning up an answer none of the current theories predicts.
— The Secret Keeper
Whatever else they may be, weeds are optimists.
— Plenty
Truth was never the point.
— The New Tsar
And the good news is that for most of us, most of the time, better times do come around eventually.
— Walking With Plato
‘Well,’ Mary said contentedly. ‘Now we can save the next part for tomorrow. Every day we can read one part, and that will make the stories last longer.’
’That’s my wise girls.’ said Ma.
So Laura did not say that she would rather read as fast as she could.
— By the Shores of Silver Lake
I don’t care who you are or who you saved, you are a constant curse on my family Harry Potter.
— Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
The real gift of the holiday season, A.J. thinks, is that it ends.
— The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

What a good reading year! I can't wait to see what 2017 brings.

My favorite quotes from books I read in 2015

I started keeping a written reading journal this year precisely so that I would have a good way to record quotes from the books I'm reading. Here are my favorite quotes from books I read in 2015:

From First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen:

"Motherhood is hard enough without judgment from others who don't know the whole story."

From How To Eat A Cupcake by Meg Donohue:

"And then I was alone in the tapering crowd."

From Who Could That Be At This Hour by Lemony Snickett:

"If someone wanted to torture me until I gave them critical information, all they would have to do is get my socks wet."

From Life Is a Wheel by Bruce Webster:

"One day you're a Jetson, the next you're a Flinstone."

From Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote:

"I felt in my pocket the key to this apartment; with all its gloom, it still was a place of my own, the first, and all my books were there, and jars of pencils to sharpen, everything I needed, so I felt, to become the writer I wanted to be."

From A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote:

"As for me, I could leave the world with today in my eyes."

From The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver:

"There are more words in the world than no and yes."

From Yes, Please by Amy Pohler:

"I'm tired of being tired, and talking about how tired I am."

From A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

"Never forget what you are, for the world surely will not. Make it your strength. Then it will never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you."

From Tricky Twenty-Two by Janet Evanovich

"My hair was out of control by birth. Hers was by design."

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