little corners

It’s hard to believe February has come and gone. My hope in sharing these excerpts is that it will inspire you to read these books. Enjoy this month’s excerpts!

The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club

– Martha Hall Kelly

• We will make the world a better place by first being better ourselves by reading, then sharing what we know with others, simply and humbly.
• At least we could count on books to get us through.

The Personal Librarian

– Marie Benedict, Victoria Christoper Murray

Note: I read a physical copy of this book and did not do well to underline passages that stood out.

• The deeper we each read, the more we would understand about this world we live in, and the more questions we had.
• The tie between parent and child is unbreakable, despite the sort of relationship they actually shared.

The Great Mann

– Kyra Davis Lurie

• It was like I was drinking somebody else’s history, swapping out my red blood for blue.
• I loved her tenderness, but it’s hard for a mother to calm a child once it’s been revealed that she has no real ability to protect him.
• We’ve all got the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, andif you don’t have the last, I’m not sure it’s worth having the first two.
• I’ve missed having someone around who believed dreaming was essential to life.
• Luxury ain’t in the gleam of a diamond or the columns of a house. Luxury’s the power to block out the sun at will, deciding for yourself when’s night and when’s day.
• When you come from nothing, it’s hard to grasp what can be gained, but mighty easy to imagine what can be taken.
• If comfort is luxury, then there ain’t nothing more luxurious than delusion.
• She wears her emotions like sequins on a dress, each one catching the light just a little different than the last, but they all got sparkle to ’em.
• If it’s the right thing to do, maybe I shouldn’t be worrying about the personal costs.
• Behind ugliness, there’s still beauty worth seeing.
• Oh, I’m more than rational, I’m downright cynical. It’s exhausting to see this world through such a clear lens.
• We fought for the things we stand to lose.

All That Life Can Afford

– Emily Everett

• Hard to keep my eyes on my work, with that view: the sailboats like little origami birds, the sea throwing back its own light, reflective and fluid like a sequin dress. And the bright continental sun above, welcoming me, pressing on me like a hot hand.
• What a simple, miraculous thing: to be remembered.
• You’re as soft as a two-minute egg.
• That’s partly why I left and came here. Home became just this place where she used to be. My life had felt like a cleared-out house: just empty rooms to walk through, the corners swept clean, my voice echoing off the bare walls and sealed windows. You couldn’t stay in a place like that.
• I was doing it. And it was nice here, at the top. It really was. But it was just gold leaf on a runny egg.
• That my mother could be alive, the heart and center of my life, and then gone the next day.
• “Suffering isn’t mundane,” Callum said gently. “I don’t know, I think it is. Mourning is pretty much a universal thing, right? We all have to do it, at some point. Everyone on the planet is doing it, will do it, but when you’re going through it, it’s only yours.”
• You know I’m at least seventy-five percent problems.
• Trying to blend in. It’s a waste.
• The thing I’d needed since the day my mother died. A place to be loved.

I also read a physical copy of Meant to Be by Emily Giffin–this was a pretty fun read, but didn’t produce any excerpts.

I read so many great books this month, it’s really difficult to choose a favorite! I’d highly recommend all of these books.

Here’s to more great books in March!