"Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery."
Rowling changes things up in book four with the Intern"Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery."
Rowling changes things up in book four with the International Quidditch Cup and Triwizard Tournament. No more a children's book. Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire makes a significant leap into Young Adult territory. I'm re-reading the series in 2024, over twenty years after I first read them. This installment is by far my favorite of the first four, the intrigue ignited in Goblet of Fire never extinguishes for the remaining volumes.
Favorite Passages: Mayhem at the Ministry Mrs. Weasley glanced at the grandfather clock in the corner. Harry liked this clock. It was completely useless if you wanted to know the time, but otherwise very informative. It had nine golden hands, and each of them was engraved with one of the Weasley family's names. There were no numerals around the face, but descriptions of where each family member might be. "Home," "school," and "work" were there, but there was also "traveling," "lost," "hospital," "prison," and, in the position where the number twelve would be on a normal clock, "mortal peril."
Mad-Eye Moody "Oh Professor, look! I think I've got an unaspected planet! Oooh, which one's that, Professor?" "It is Uranus, my dear," said Professor Trelawney, peering down at the chart. "Can I have a look at Uranus too, Lavender?" said Ron. _______
"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter?" sneered Malfoy. "So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?" "You know your mother, Malfoy?" said Harry- both he and Hermoine had grabbed the back of Ron's robes to stop him from launching himself at Malfoy - "that expression she's got, like she's got dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?" _______
"Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret . . . "
The Unforgivable Curses Moody swept the dead spider off the desk onto the floor. "Not nice," he said calmly. "Not pleasant. And there's no countercurse. There's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me." Harry felt his face redden as Moody's eyes (both of them) looked into his own. He could feel everyone else looking around at him too. Harry stared at the blank blackboard as though fascinated by it, but not really seeing it at all . . .
Beauxbatons and Durmstrang Professor Snape was forcing them to research antidotes. They took this one seriously, as he had hinted that he might be poisoning one of them before Christmas to see if their antidote worked. _______
"Zey are very strong . . . " "I assure you that Hagrid will be well up the job," said Dumbledore, smiling. "Very well," said Madame Maxime, bowing slightly. "Will you please inform zis 'Agrid zat ze 'orses drink only single-malt whiskey?" "It will be attended to," said Dumbledore, also bowing.
The Goblet of Fire They ended up having lunch with Hagrid, though they didn't eat much - Hagrid had made what he said was beef casserole, but after Hermoine unearthed a large talon in hers, she, Harry, and Ron rather lost their appetites.
The House-Elf Liberation Front "Percy wouldn't recognize a joke if it danced naked in front of him wearing Doby's tea cozy."
Rita Skeeter's Scoop "I have gone temporarily deaf and haven't any idea what you said, Harry," said Dumbledore, twiddling his thumbs and staring at the ceiling. _______
"Really, Hagrid, if you are holding out for universal popularity, I'm afraid you will be in this cabin for a very long time," said Dumbledore, now peering sternly over his half-moon spectacles. "Not a week has passed since I became headmaster of this school when I haven't had at least one owl complaining about the way I run it. But what should I do? Barricade myself in my study and refuse to talk to anybody?" "Yeh - yeh're not half-giant!" said Hagrid croakily. "Hagrid, look what I've got for relatives!" Harry said furiously. "Look at the Dursleys!" "An excellent point," said Professor Dumbledore. "My own brother, Aberforth, was prosecuted for practicing inappropriate charms on a goat. It was all over the papers, but did Aberforth hide? No, he did not! He held his head high and went about his business as usual! Of course, I'm not entirely sure he can read, so that may not have been bravery . . . "
The Pensieve "This? It is called a Pensieve," said Dumbledore. "I sometimes find, and I am sure you know the feeling, that I simply have too many thoughts and memories crammed into my mind." "Er," said Harry, who couldn't truthfully say that he had ever felt anything of the sort. "At these times," said Dumbledore, indicating the stone basin, "I use the Pensieve. One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one's mind, pours them into the basin, and examines them at one's leisure. It becomes easier to spot patterns and links, you understand, when they are in this form."
The Third Task "First think of the person who lives in disguise, Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies. Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend, The middle of middle and end of the end? And finally give me the sound often heard During the search for a hard-to-find word. Now string them together, and answer me this, Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"
Veritaserum "Decent people are so easy to manipulate, Potter." _______
"Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery."
The Parting of the Ways "You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be!"...more
He eats lotus and slithers under moonlight, referring to himself as Walter the Cinnamon Disappointment. ______ A ghost face in the darkest wall of her pHe eats lotus and slithers under moonlight, referring to himself as Walter the Cinnamon Disappointment. ______ A ghost face in the darkest wall of her parent's old house has deposited a pear.
A profoundly strange, unexpected, fragmented, shocking, thought-provoking and surprising experience! The End of the World is one of my favorite books read in 2024 - I will definitely be purchasing a copy of this book for my personal library. I'm looking forward to watching films by Don Hertzfeldt soon.
Favorite Passages: For a half hour today it will actually be tomorrow, but nobody will notice. _______
Another aging rock star becomes a fading parody of rebellion. _______
Her hair is an independent living being that dreams and is sending signals to other hair. _______
The reflections of sunlight off the traffic below cast kaleidoscope bands across the ceiling. _______
Sometimes he would take the leg out of the freezer and look at it. ______
Ethnic children and small birds starve themselves and dart around the room. ______
She gives birth to a table and it is stupid. ______
A curious memento from a memory gap ______
One thousand children from around the world lip synching in harmony ______
A mysterious corpse appears in orbit ______
She had arranged for the face of her dead husband to be stretched over the head of a simple animatronic robot, so she could still sort of be with him. _______
A sudden childhood memory as pieces fall. ______
There is a dragonfly snapped backwards at an angle, still pinwheeling in the dirt. But she can't kill it. She can't kill it. ______
Gary thinks he sees an ostrich _______
He eats lotus and slithers under moonlight, referring to himself as Walter the Cinnamon Disappointment. _______
Things walk silently across the horizon _______
Birds frozen solid to branches. _______
"We're like babies who were never born." _______
It looks like people were dragged off that way. _______
Before the electricity died, somebody had repeatedly faxed the same coordinates on a dozen pages ______
The Easter Eel hides leathery egg sacs filled with chocolate across the land. ______
He only speaks in high pitched voices now ______
He says, "Meow Meow Meow Meow Meow." ______
Balloons are the offspring of ghosts and tires. ______
Limbless bodies floated and swam underneath, content in the silence. ______
For the past seven hours a gigantic voice has been moaning, MILLDRED It is deeply annoying. MMILLLLDRREEED _______
This is simply impossible. _______
When will he wake up from this dream? _______
"You've been dead before. It's really not that big of a deal." _______
"Dad! No! Wait! The bike is still chained to the truck." _______
"Those clouds may have seen us! Run! Run to the shore!" _______
He reaches the ocean and yells "I am a good person" again and again over the cliff _______
"I can hardly feel the device under my pants." _______
"This is amazing! It explains everything!" _______
The moon's reflection is so beautiful he has to hug it. _______
She dreams of purple dreaming angrily. _______
A ghost face in the darkest wall of her parent's old house has deposited a pear. _______
She dreams of a dog in a medicine commercial throwing up white foam....more
"I have known people like you before, Mr. Penumbra. People with your gift." "Oh, if I have any skill at research, it is only - " "No, no. Anyone can fus"I have known people like you before, Mr. Penumbra. People with your gift." "Oh, if I have any skill at research, it is only - " "No, no. Anyone can fuss in the archives. I am speaking of the willingness to entertain absurd ideas. It is a habit that is highly prized among . . . my peers."
Favorite Passages: A 24-Hour Bookstore "Tell me." "It is - ah." The visitor turns, expecting to see customers queuing behind him; there was no one. He turns back to the clerk. "It will take some time." "It's a twenty-four-hour bookstore," the clerk says. He smiles almost ruefully. "We've got nothing but time." "I should start at the beginning." "You should start with the basics." The clerk settles back on his stool, crosses his arms. "What's your name, friend?" "Oh. Yes, of course. My name is Ajax Penumbra."
Ajax Penumbra! They are the long arm of the library, and the wellspring of its bibliographic wealth. You see them sometimes on the library's upper floors, consulting with one another in the shadows, speaking quietly in strange languages, rubbing thoughtfully at strange scars. _______
You begin to suspect that the Tycheon might simply be lost. You confess as much to Langston Armitage, and he reminds you that your colleague Carol Janssen recently recovered the six-hundred-year-old Incan Book of Dreams. "It was composed entirely form knotted string, by boy," he croaks, "and they had taken it apart to make sweaters." He says it again, for emphasis: "It was in . . . the villagers' . . . sweaters."
Psychohistorian Traveling up and down the peninsula, Penumbra has come to the conclusion that San Francisco is not actually part of California. The city is pale and windswept; Palo Alto is green and still, with the scent of eucalyptus strong in the air. The sky here is pearlescent blue, not platinum gray.
The Gift "This is not an ordinary bookstore." "Indeed. It seems more akin to a youth hostel - " "No, no, not that," Mo says, shaking his head; his glasses glint like searchlights. "They will go as quickly as they came . . . they are already going. Haven't you heard, Mr. Penumbra? Their Summer of Love is fading." "No, I had not heard. But then - well. I did not come to San Francisco for the Summer of Love." "Of course, of course. Drugs, music, a new age dawning . . . and you came for an old book." _______
"I have known people like you before, Mr. Penumbra. People with your gift." "Oh, if I have any skill at research, it is only - " "No, no. Anyone can fuss in the archives. I am speaking of the willingness to entertain absurd ideas. It is a habit that is highly prized among . . . my peers."
Members Only "The measure of a bookstore is not its receipts, but its friends," he says, "and here, we are rich indeed." ______
"Mr. Penumbra: Please make yourself at home here. Do whatever you must to prevent the store from being ransacked, burned down, or raided by the police. Sell a few books if you can. But do not, under any circumstances, browse, read, or otherwise inspect the shelved volumes." _______
"No such thing as accidents, tiger." She takes a drag. "You're new here, aren't you?" "New? Ah, no. In point of fact, I am not truly here." He means to say: I do not work here; I am just filling in. But it comes out strangely, and - "That's far out," she says, nodding. "Maybe I'm not here either. Maybe you and me shouldn't be here - together. Catch my drift?" _______
Penumbra is halfway through The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test; he feels like he understands the overnight crowd better with every page. _______
"Well, you know our saying: 'It's not over until you hold the book's ashes in your hands, weeping at the years you've lost.'" "I did not know we had that saying, sir." "I'll wire you the money, my boy. Bring us a book!"
The Wreck of The William Gray He loses track of time. The whole universe contracts into the almost philosophical darkness of the tube, the curve of its space-time that he tracks with his legs, not with his eyes. Perhaps he will emerge and find that ten years have passed. Fifty. He smiles at that, and does the math, counting the years in time with the pedals: 2017 ... 2018 ... 2019. How will this city look in the twenty-first century? Maybe those Yerba Buena Gardens will finally have a plant or - ...more
Favorite Passage: But can a snake play catch? I do not knowA follow up to Watch Me Throw the Ball!, introducing Snake as a new Elephant & Piggie friend.
Favorite Passage: But can a snake play catch? I do not know. But I can try....more
Ride The Knight Bus and then all aboard The Hogwarts Express! I love hearing about Chocolate as a remedy. Many important story elements are introducedRide The Knight Bus and then all aboard The Hogwarts Express! I love hearing about Chocolate as a remedy. Many important story elements are introduced in this third installment, including, but limited to: Hagrid becoming Care of Magical Creatures Teacher, The Marauder's Map, Dementors, Hogsmeade, Sirius Black, Buckbeak and Patronuses.
Favorite Passages: Aunt Marge's Big Mistake "We've told Marge you attend St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys." ______
"Have you been beaten often?" "Oh, yeah," said Harry, "loads of times." Aunt Marge narrowed her eyes. "I still don't like your tone, boy," she said. "If you can speak of your beatings in that casual way, they clearly aren't hitting you hard enough. Petunia, I'd write if I were you. Make it clear that you approve the use of extreme force in this boy's case."
The Marauder's Map Harry squeezed himself through a crowd of sixth years and saw a sign hanging in the farthest corner of the shop (UNUSUAL TASTES). Ron and Hermoine were standing underneath it, examining a try of blood-flavored lollipops. Harry sneaked up behind them. "Ugh, no, Harry won't want one of those, they're for vampires, I expect," Hermoine was saying. "How about these?" said Ron, shoving a jar of Cockroach Clusters under Hermoine's nose. "Definitely not," said Harry.
The Firebolt "I couldn't leave him tied up out there in the snow!" choked Hagrid. "All on his own! At Christmas." Harry, Ron, and Hermoine looked at one another. They had never seen eye to eye with Hagrid about what he called "interesting creatures" and other people called "terrifying monsters." On the other hand, there didn't seem to be any particular harm in Buckbeak. In fact, by Hagrid's usual standards, he was positively cute.
Cat, Rat, and Dog "Harry, don't trust him, he's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead too - he's a werewolf!" (view spoiler)[ There was a ringing silence. Everyone's eyes were now on Lupin, who looked remarkably calm, though rather pale. "Not at all up to your usual standard, Hermoine," he said. "Only one out of three, I'm afraid. I have not been helping Sirius get into the castle and I certainly don't want Harry dead . . ." And odd shiver passed over his face. "But I won't deny that I am a werewolf." (hide spoiler)]
Owl Post Again "The consequences of our actions are always so complicated, so diverse, that predicting the future is a very difficult business indeed." _______
"You think the dead we loved ever truly leave us? You think that we don't recall them more clearly than ever in times of great trouble? Your father is alive in you, Harry, and shows himself most plainly when you have need of him. (view spoiler)[How else could you produce that particular Patronus? Prongs rode again last night." It took a moment for Harry to realize what Dumbledore had said. "Last night Sirius told me all about how they became Animagi," said Dumbledore, smiling. "An extraordinary achievement - not least, keeping it quiet from me. And then I remembered the most unusual form your Patronus took, when it charged Mr. Malfoy down at your Quidditch match against Ravenclaw. You know, Harry, in a way, you did see your father last night . . . You found him inside yourself." (hide spoiler)]...more
Another Quirky Win for Sara Varon. Ever since experiencing Robot Dreams, I've had to explore more by this author/artist. I learned a new word "diurnalAnother Quirky Win for Sara Varon. Ever since experiencing Robot Dreams, I've had to explore more by this author/artist. I learned a new word "diurnal", referring to plant or animal activity "during the day". I enjoyed reading about critters eating trash and dogs that like to roll around in spoiled cabbage. Very fun and amusing.
I noticed an abundance of curious names used for characters in this book some are average, others quirky and a whole other category of food-related character names. Here are some examples: Average names: George, Wayne Lilian, Lenny, Otto, Lucky, Stevie, Francine, Linus, Roseanne Quirky names: Mystikal, Nargiz, Tuck, Pinky, Casper, Pico Food-Related names: Pickles, Sweet Pea, Shortcake, Cookie, Peanut, Jelly, Pico?
Golden Bone seems to be the first in a planned series, so I'll definitely be looking forward to more Detective Sweet Pea installments.
Favorite Passages: Are you eating garbage again? You're going to get sick! _______
Are you dogs? Or are you donuts?! _______
Hey! You just got motor oil on my egg salad sandwich. _______
I can't believe anyone in Parkville would do a thing like this. I know all the animals in town. Everyone is decent . . . . . . even if some could be nicer. _______
I guess everyone has a different perspective based on their own experiences. _______
Well, everybody in Parkville seems odd. But I think that's normal here. _______
Look what I found, Roseanne . . . a piece of sponge! _______
I think that rabbit is one carrot short of a bunch. _______
That is not a good look for you, Sweet Pea. What happened to you?!
I got set up! I followed a trail of bread crumbs right outside my front door . . . and it led me straight into a mousetrap!! _______
Maybe together we could come up with a better solution for the community than hoping all the dogs' teeth rot. _______
I haven't seen my aunt Zelda in a week - not since she ran off with that snake!!
Amusing and delightful. After discovering Robot Dreams, I was excited to find New Shoes. Both are two of my favorite finds of 2024.
Favorite Passages:Amusing and delightful. After discovering Robot Dreams, I was excited to find New Shoes. Both are two of my favorite finds of 2024.
Favorite Passages: Care for some fish? NO, thank you. We are herbivores. _______
Hey! What are those things on your feet? You mean my shoes? Your what? Shoes. For protecting one's feet on the road and keeping them from getting wet in the rain. What's a road? What's wrong with wet feet? They don't sound very useful. _______
What's for dinner, Francis? Nothing. We already ate everything. Oh. _______
Sorry to frighten you! We were just admiring your meal. _______
Francis was disappointed in Nigel, but he also understood that Nigel thought he was just having a good time....more
An amazing, transcendent story of friendship with no dialogue and minimal words. Robot Dreams is one of my favorite discoveries of 2024. I will be re-rAn amazing, transcendent story of friendship with no dialogue and minimal words. Robot Dreams is one of my favorite discoveries of 2024. I will be re-reading this again and again. I've only seen a small portion of the Robot Dreams film (while I was working at the movie theater), but I hope the film will be released on DVD or Blu-ray. ...more
A very quirky, adorable book featuring bakery and vegetable characters. The two main characters are best friends, a cupcake and eggplant. I discoveredA very quirky, adorable book featuring bakery and vegetable characters. The two main characters are best friends, a cupcake and eggplant. I discovered Sara Varon through Robot Dreams and am enjoying exploring her work. Many of Varon's books can be enjoyed by both children and adults. As a bonus, Bake Sale contains recipes.
Favorite Passages: Thanks, Eggplant! You are the best friend a baked good could wish for! _______
How's everything going with the band?
Oh, pretty good . . . we found a potato to play the drums.
A potato?! Everyone knows potatoes have no rhythm!...more
I talked about how I hadn't dreamed of flying for a while, And that very night, for the first time in a while, I dreamt I was flying. - 'Dream' by SachiI talked about how I hadn't dreamed of flying for a while, And that very night, for the first time in a while, I dreamt I was flying. - 'Dream' by Sachiko Yoshihara
But before the balloons. . . Are you sure we can move freely in Space? Right and left we can go, backward and forward freely enough, and men always have done so. I admit we move freely in two dimensions. But how about up and down? Gravitation limits us there. Men can go up against gravitation in a balloon, and why should he not hope that ultimately he may be able to stop or accelerate his drift along the Time-Dimension, or even turn about and travel the other way? - The Time Machine, H.G. Wells
If the universe, which is currently expanding, reaches its contraction stage, the flow of time will be reversed. - Stephen Hawking
Favorite Passages: There I was, confined to my hospital bed with a fractured thigh, when suddenly I realized I was becoming detached from this world. ______
. . . when you spend most of your time staring up at a white ceiling, you can soon start to feel like you're floating further and further away. _______
Determined not to let my guard down and grab at silk, only to find a sharp metal item hidden underneath. _______
"I don't," I said to the blue sheet, "want to impose." _______
I found phone calls to be a nuisance. _______
How suave of her. How incredible. I was already within reach of her mysterious energy. _______
I found a bathroom, went in and looked in the mirror - only to find the flushed face of a forty-eight-year-old staring back at me. What a sight. I looked drunk. I needed to calm down. If only I didn't appear so ugly. If only I were a little younger. If only I was forty, at least. _______
It had been a long time since I had last been able to see a woman simply as lovable and beautiful. A long time since I'd got past my jaded view of all women as self-centered, fickle, stubborn, unworldly, shallow people. _______
It goes to show just how strongly people's impressions can be colored by preconceptions. _______
. . . I wasn't endowed with an entirely new ability but reacquainted with a long-forgotten one instead. _______
I never usually pick up discarded newspapers, but this one came flying towards the bench I was sitting at and got tangled around my legs. I felt something radiating from the paper (sorry to put it in a way that sounds, well . . . paranormal, but I don't know how else to put it) and I picked it up. _______
"I do, I want to shoot it. I want to blast away my worries. Want to really do something. Will you join me?" "In what?" "Armed robbery and extortion." _______
There was something on the other side of me, or more precisely, inside of me. I looked harder and saw someone standing on the other side of my reflection. _______
"I want words," said Mutsuko, out of the blue. "Words?" "Some kinds of words. Encouraging words. Words that will help me come to terms with this incomprehensible destiny, words that will cheer me up, words that will make me laugh, words that will move me. Say anything. Say anything that comes to your mind." _______
"In the end, only death wins." _______
"Well, maybe I'm not normal." _______
There's a dusty road lined with shops in front of Ebisu station. It leads to a hilly residential area blending old houses with new concrete homes. Here and there it reminds you of twenty, thirty years ago, and you'd never think you were only a twelve, - or thirteen-minute walk from Shibuya. In a forgotten corner of this area compromising old wooden homes, there was a dirty concrete apartment building. And in there was a small, two-bedroom apartment facing east on the second floor. That was the place that became our home. _______
"We've been informed." "About what?" "That you two aren't normal." "Do we have to be normal?" _______
A single fallen leaf sat on top of the table. It was mid November. The table was outside, between two buildings, and a small ray of light had found its way through the high-rises, the trees, the poles and other obstacles to shine down on its surface. The different colors of the leaf - the deep yellow-brown of the narrow, oval tip, the vivid yellow int he middle and the little bit of green that remained at the stem - were all sparkling in the late-autumn morning sun. This ragged-edged leaf also had a couple of insect holes, and I admired it as I sat with my paper cup of self-serve coffee in front of me. _______
I felt that everyone had sealed off their emotions. As if we were all playing a game of not being human. _______
I gently moved my hand along the table towards the leaf. I touched the yellow of it with the tip of my finger and it made me want to embrace its beauty. But I couldn't. It would be impossible. It being so small and fragile, there was no way I could impose myself upon it. _______
Our relationship had been one based on miracles. One in which I'd been made to feel my own powerlessness. I'd known we were dealing with destiny. Dealing with something that couldn't be controlled by people. That's how I felt. Or was it merely how I was being made to feel? It seemed the only thing I could do was to make peace with and accept this. And as these thoughts went through my mind, I could feel my body being drained of all strength and going limp, like a marionette released from the hands of a puppeteer.
Joe knew that all human beings are the star of their own very important film, a film in which they are both camera and actor; a film in which they areJoe knew that all human beings are the star of their own very important film, a film in which they are both camera and actor; a film in which they are always playing the fearful and lonely hero who gets up each day hoping to finally strike upon the life they are meant to lead, though they never do.
When I started back working at the movie theater in 2018, You Were Never Really Here was the first film I watched for free, and it's definitely stayed with me over the years. I'll be rewatching the film soon, now that I've read the book. I think the book clarifies a number of things and I think the film is a great visual representation. The book is short, impactful and disturbing.
Favorite Passages: Joe felt something behind him. It was the presence of life and coming of violence, and that anticipation, that sensitivity, enabled him to turn in time and catch the blackjack on his shoulder, which was better than taking it on the back of his head. ______
It was late October and there was a sweet smell in the air, like a flower that had just died. He thought about a time when he'd been happy. It had been more than two decades. _______
(view spoiler)[Joe lay in bed in his mother's house. He thought about committing suicide. Such thinking was like a metronome for him. Always present, always ticking. All day long, every few minutes, he'd think, I have to kill myself. _______
What Joe didn't grasp was that his sense of self had been carved, like a totem, by his father's beatings. The only way for Joe to have survived his father's sadism was to believe that he deserved it, that it was justified, and that belief was still with him and could never be undone. In essence, he had been waiting nearly fifty years to finish the job that his father had started. _______
Back at the car, he put the gloves on, got inside, and held the hammer in his hand. It fit nicely. A hammer was Joe's favorite weapon. He was his father's son, after all. (hide spoiler)] _______
He had come to believe that he was the recurring element - the deciding element - in all the tragedies experienced by the people he encountered. So if he could minimize his impact and his responsibility, then there was the chance, the slight chance, that there would be no more suffering for others. It was a negative grandiose delusion - narcissism inverted into self-hatred, a kind of autoimmune disorder of his psyche - but there was an undeniable element of truth to Joe's paranoiac state: where he went, pain and punishment followed. _______
He found that he could still function exceedingly well as a weapon, and he had never stopped living as if he was still undercover. It had become a permanent state. _______
A hammer doesn't ask why it strikes. _______
Joe knew that all human beings are the star of their own very important film, a film in which they are both camera and actor; a film in which they are always playing the fearful and lonely hero who gets up each day hoping to finally strike upon the life they are meant to lead, though they never do. _______
He was blind, danger was like that sometimes, your eyes stopped working, some unseeing snake part of your brain took over, where everything was shadow and feeling . . . _______
Joe's eyes blacked over, like a hood had been draped over his head, and there was a shriek of terror in his mind, something he hadn't felt in years. Then he willed the terror away and willed himself to see. _______
The house was like an extension of his nervous system, his skin. He had spent the first thirteen years of his life listening for the slightest movement of his father, ready to run and hide if something didn't sound right. He could tell by the way his father closed the refrigerator door or the way his foot landed on the staircase if something bad was going to happen, so if he hid quickly, he might escape a beating. _______
Something happened inside his mind. It was physical. He could feel it in the center of his brain - it was as if large plate-glass windows were breaking, one after the other. _______
It was a clear, cold day, and the world looked magnificent - the make-believe city and the ancient river. (view spoiler)[He got out of the car and went on the path, carrying his mother in the doubled-up garbage bags - she didn't weigh much in life or death. There were no tourists about, and he added a very large rock to the sack and then sealed it tight with the duct tape. When he got to the promontory, he tossed her with all his might into the water hundreds of feet below. No one saw. He watched her make a dimple in the water, float a moment, and then sink. It was the most beautiful funeral he could think to give her. _______
The Hudson, to the left of the tracks, was impossibly beautiful, a blue darker than the sky, and for long stretches, the riverbanks, thick with forest, were free of modern blight. One could almost imagine that this was how the river had been for thousands of years. _______
Like the beginning of a parable, he said to himself, "A man with one leg has nowhere to run." _______
There was a picture of Votto standing by his pool, smiling, the sun in his eyes - Life is beautiful. Joe looked at the picture. Then he went out to a hardware store and picked up a new hammer. (hide spoiler)]...more
Turn to face this way - Mine as well, this loneliness The end of autumn. - Chapter 11
I wanted to live in a world where people weren't pigeonholed accordiTurn to face this way - Mine as well, this loneliness The end of autumn. - Chapter 11
I wanted to live in a world where people weren't pigeonholed according to their academic history or what company they worked for, a world that knew how to recognize the worth of real, living people. I wanted to see what I could accomplish in a place like that. - Chapter 13
Mysterious and Intriguing. Even if these books aren't for everyone, Taichi Yamada deserves recognition for some attention-grabbing titles. I experienced In Search of a Distant Voice after reading All of Us Strangers. Next up: I Haven't Dreamed of Flying for a While.
Favorite Passages: Somewhere along the way, though, he had come to believe in the existence of the Other - of people who possessed depths that were totally beyond him. _______
In the end, he thought, I guess we humans don't really take our lives all that seriously. _______
The realization that something had happened that could never be undone cut into him like a knife. _______
He knew he was staring at the ceiling, but at the same time he was peering up into a dark and distant sky. The profound sadness he'd felt was flying off into that sky, its cape flapping wildly behind it. It grew smaller and smaller, then vanished into the darkness. Peering into the void, he saw lightning flicker through the distant clouds, a dull flash unaccompanied by any sound, as if the lightning were breathing. 'Who are you?' . . . . What does that mean? Who are you? Are you asking who I am? You must be kidding. I'm the one who should be asking you who you are. You come here of your own volition and start asking me who I am? I don't think so. _____
"There's no telling what sort of powers foreigners might have at their disposal. I mean, in India there are guys who can levitate, right? Let them into the country and you have to deal with that kind of thing, too. You have to let people live these lives that are totally different, you know - unfathomable." ______
I never realized I had this messed-up, twisted side to me. ______
"Hit me, please," cried Tsuneo through his sobs. "Please, hit me again." Maybe if he hits me I'll be able to stop, just as I did when I was laughing. "I can't hear you," said Mrs. Saito. "I can't understand you when you're crying." ______
I have to be careful or I'm just going to keep getting weirder and weirder. ______
I wanted to live in a world where people weren't pigeonholed according to their academic history or what company they worked for, a world that knew how to recognize the worth of real, living people. I wanted to see what I could accomplish in a place like that. ______
He realized then that he was submerged in an emotion more intense than any he had ever felt before. It seemed to him that this feeling included each and every emotion that could be felt, and moreover that each individual emotion was especially dense and profound. It was quiet. He was sunk in a swamp whose surface was as still as oil. A deep, thick, dark quagmire of emotions. Like a pool into which every color had been mixed ever so persistently; all the emotions in existence had been gathered there, and no matter how hard he tried to feel any particular one - only anger, for instance, or only joy - he knew it would be impossible. Then, quietly, the swamp drew back, leaving Tsuneo behind. The barest trace of an emotion lingered in him, but that emotion was his own. It seemed a dingy, trite, and mundane thing. ______
"There's a whole world that you can't see." ______
Perhaps there was beauty out there more stunning than he could imagine, happiness of which he couldn't even dream. ______
By the time he emerged above ground, the cloudless sky was already tinged with the colors of twilight. A gentle breeze gusted through the long rows of ginkgo trees that lined the avenue leading to the woman's favorite meeting spot, the Memorial Picture Gallery; the yellow leaves trembled, gleaming brilliantly in the sharply slanting rays of the sun....more
I watched All of Us Strangers twice while it played at my local movie theater. I'm glad I did - the second time made a lot more sense. Reading the scrI watched All of Us Strangers twice while it played at my local movie theater. I'm glad I did - the second time made a lot more sense. Reading the screenplay enhances the film experience, providing more details, clarification and understanding. The film is more subtle and obscure. This screenplay serves as a reliable bridge between the novel and the film. All of Us Strangers was my first screenplay experience. Based on this amazing experience, I will definitely be reading more movie screenplays in the near future.
Selected Lyrics from Songs mentioned in All of Us Strangers Screenplay: Just another tragedy Just a personal affair In a room somewhere - The Circus by ERASURE
It's build a house where we can stay (Build) Add a new bit, everyday (Build) It's build a road for us to cross (Build) Build us lots and lots and lots and lots and lots (Build) - BUILD by THE HOUSEMARTINS
Shooting stars never stop even when they reach the top Shooting stars never stop even when they reach the top There goes a supernova what a pushover-yeah There goes a supernova what a pushover We're a long way from home Welcome to the pleasuredome On our way home Going home where lovers roam Long way from home Welcome to the pleasuredome Moving on keep moving on -Frankie Goes to Hollywood, "Welcome to the Pleasuredome"
Favorite Passages from All of Us Strangers Screenplay: HARRY There's vampires at my door. _______
HARRY (CONT'D) Everyone is meant to be kinder nowadays but surprise fucking surprise, nothing has changed. ______
INT. ADAM'S BEDROOM - NIGHT A white noise machine plays the sound of the wind. Adam lies in bed, half-awake, half-asleep; that time of night when nothing feels entirely real.
With a remote control, he raises the blinds just enough to see the horizon of the city. There is that glint, that shard of light beckoning him. _______
MUM (CONT'D) I always knew you'd be creative. What kind of writer? You know how I love Stephen King. Carrie, Cujo, Different Seasons.
ADAM I'm not a proper writer. I write scripts, a few films. TV when I have to.
MUM This is so bloody exciting. If I knew the neighbors I'd run over and tell them right now.
She sits back down.
DAD I've always said that writers know less about the real world than almost anyone else. ______
DAD We're very bloody pleased to see you doing so well. _______
EXT. FAMILY HOME DRIVEWAY - NIGHT DAD It's been so bloody nice to see you again. We weren't sure we ever would but here you are.
ADAM Here I am
MUM Come back soon. One of us will be in.
ADAM I will. _______
INT. MINICAB - NIGHT TAXI DRIVER (CONT'D) Out with your mates?
ADAM No.
Adam tries to wrestle with the ramifications of tonight. ADAM (CONT'D) I was with my parents. ________
INT. ADAM'S APARTMENT - DAY Adam sits at tis laptop, the music continuing. Writer's block seems to have gone. His mind is alive. As he types his eyes redden with tears, not with sadness but rather something sweeter. _______
INT. ADAM'S APARTMENT - DUSK ADAM What do you do?
HARRY I.T. I wanted to do something else but never worked out what that something was. _______
INT. ADAM'S APARTMENT - NIGHT ADAM It was a long time ago.
HARRY I don't think that matters. _______
INT. ADAM'S OLD BEDROOM - DAY MUM (CONT'D) I thought you'd be hairier. Like your Dad. I like a hairy chest if I'm honest. Christ. You know who you look like?
ADAM Who?
MUM Like my father. Or how I remember him when I was a little girl. Isn't that mad? It's like seeing both of you at the exact same time.
A fascinating gothic novel! A dark fairy tale of duality, cages and people watching. I read The Watchers after viewing the film adaptation six times atA fascinating gothic novel! A dark fairy tale of duality, cages and people watching. I read The Watchers after viewing the film adaptation six times at my local theater. It was interesting to see the differences between the book and film - there were quite a few - and I liked both versions in their own right. This experience reminded me of the book and film differences between Ready Player One and more recently, All of Us Strangers - in all three instances, the film departs from the source material, but all are films do well in their chosen direction. I fully intend to read the upcoming sequel to The Watchers, Stay in the Light. I also will be reading the other book by A. M. Shine, The Creeper.
Favorite Passages: Prologue - John It was an unnatural place where the shadows never lifted, like a bleak lens forced over the eyes. _______
The distant fields' long grasses were like eyelashes winking at him, shimmering under the summer blue. _______
The seasons held no sway over the woodland. An eternal coldness was trapped there, rising as mist by the deeper pits. It was a cemetery of trees whose black earth sank soft without need for rain, and the feeling of death and rot haunted it like the residue of some horrible dream. _______
He imagined a crow circling above the forest - if ever an animal was brave enough - watching John orbit the same claustrophobic tract of hell, lost like a rat in a maze. _______
He had played out the memories of that drive so many times, like a movie reel on a loop. _______
They entered the woodland where the road faded to black earth and stone, and shadows sealed the way behind them like a trapdoor vanishing, never to be found again. _______
She had long discarded the baggage of kindness and optimism, leaving only the essentials. _______
John fell to his knees; sapped of air and strength, head spinning, colored freckles dancing across his vision, all the brighter in the last light of day as shadows flooded the forest, concealing the myriad roots that lined the earth like booby traps.
DECEMBER - Mina He looked like a man who had seen it all. A sage and seer who kept secrets others could only dream of. _______
When eventually he dies no one will wonder why, and the blemishes will fade from his skin like an assassin escaping into the shadows. _______
Suppressing a smile isn't easy. The happiness always creeps out somehow. But sadness can be stashed under the skin like a dark secret. ...more
May your attitude reflect the life that is destined for you. May it be a dream-builder, a joy-weaver, and a peacekeeper. May your thoughts always serve May your attitude reflect the life that is destined for you. May it be a dream-builder, a joy-weaver, and a peacekeeper. May your thoughts always serve your divine purpose. -Dodinsky
Gentle Reminders is a small volume of inspiration and encouragement.
Favorite Passages: May you uncover courage beneath these fears. May you accept mistakes with humility. May you practice forgiveness to heal wounds. May you see the beauty of your imperfections . . . _______
You are your own peacekeeper. _______
Today, let hope be the clever thief that steals you away from the arms of despair. _______
If they have made a monster out of you because you walked away from their drama, so be it. Be at peace with yourself, and stay out of the conflict. _______
When it comes to kindness, nothing is ever small. _______
May your attitude reflect the life that is destined for you. May it be a dream-builder, a joy-weaver, and a peacekeeper. May your thoughts always serve your divine purpose. _______
If you lose someone because you didn't fit the kind of person they would like you to be, you were able to keep something more precious: you're dignity. _______
When faced with senseless drama, spiteful criticism, and misguided opinions, walking away is the best way to stand up for yourself. To respond with anger is an endorsement of their attitude. _______
Happiness is an acquired taste. The less attention you pour onto drama and negativity around you and the more you learn to appreciate the small things . . . the more meaningful your life becomes. _______
You must pour a great amount of reason into your life, so that when people do what they do and when things do not go as planned, you learn to accept things as they are and muster the courage to release what is beyond your control. Do not let failed expectations make you think you deserve less in life. Things will not always go your way, but don't use that as a reason to diminish what you can do further with your life. _______
The way you live should not be based on how popular your choices are, but how much they can mend the discord in your life. _______
You will go through a lot of stumbles in your life. That is perfectly acceptable. What is not acceptable is when you choose to punish yourself with the mistakes you made, instead of picking yourself up with what you can learn from them. Where you are right now is where your choices have brought you so far and it's your unwavering spirit that will take you further in life. _______
A beautiful existence blossoms from persistence. _______
Do not let the waves of doubt wash away your authentic self....more
. . . life can be different. It does not all need to be cruel effort.
A curious, impressive, encompassing story of stories. Vast in scope, Moonbound spe. . . life can be different. It does not all need to be cruel effort.
A curious, impressive, encompassing story of stories. Vast in scope, Moonbound speaks to the possibility of peace and cooperation. A tale of King Arthur, Sword in the Stone, of Dragons and Wizards. Plenty of easter eggs from the author's previous work (Sourdough, Mr. Penumbra).
A clever inclusion of preferred pronouns featuring a robot identifying as they/them. And an encounter just over the half-way point: "How shall we address you?" asked Durga. The beaver bowed in return. "Call me she. I'm glad to meet you, Durga, and you too, Ariel de la Sauvage. The reed told us you were here, so I was sent to fetch you, and welcome you to the regional office of Shivelight & Shadowtackle."
I struggled toward the end, but otherwise thoroughly enjoyed the novel. Moonbound is certainly among my favorites of 2024.
Favorite Passages: The Boy Brave, curious, a bit morbid, and, best of all: alive. _______
Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom, said a philosopher of the Middle Anth. Olfaction is the proof of reality, said me. You know you're back in the mix when you can smell it. The mix was: cold air and conifer. Wet forest. A tendril of smoke. _______
The truth is that I was driven by the question carved into my heart; the question I had almost, but not quite, given up; the great question of the Anth: What happens next?
Games Among Squires "Sourdough starter with a mech suit," one critic complained - but I like the description. _______
. . . the dream of memory that could outlast a lifetime kept the project going. _______
. . . inscrutable and fey. _______
"Your work isn't done," said Master Heck. Ariel looked up surprised; the hounds were combed and fed. Heck looked at him flatly. "Go fetch us pretzels." _______
It was a mash-up, a pile-up, not so much anachronistic as everything all at once. Of course, the Anth had always lived like this. Encrypted phones alongside incense sticks, coruscating networks alongside printed books. Nothing was ever erased. Even so: a castle? It was all questions: when, and where, and why.
Invisible Planets Like a spinning top, Earth wobbles on its axis, shifting its aim between Polaris and Vega, back and forth, back and forth. ______
Vega blared in the north. Eleven thousand years gone, and the heavens all askew.
Normal and Not This story was perfectly Betelgauze-ian, in that it was unlikely, but awesome.
The Rath-Road The road was paved with fine gravel that glittered beneath powerful lamps set on slender posts, spaced such that each lamp's penumbra fuzzed smoothly into the next.
City of Transformations It was the recycling center. They called it Matter Circus. If other cities in history had at their hearts financial districts or imperial palaces, Rath Varia beat its blood through this place: a vast arena of material, jumbled when it arrived but quickly sorted into neat lanes, metal and glass and stone, wire and screw and hinge. Basins overflowed with paint scraped from walls. Paint: scraped from walls. Even in the refinement of the cooperativos, I had never seen anything like this recycling center. Matter Circus was divided into zones as big as neighborhoods. There was a zone for materials nearly raw, visible as low hills of pulverized glass and craggy peaks of fine-ground stone. There was a zone where elements of architecture were arrayed for perusal: a field of windows, a forest of doors. There was a zone for electronics, their tiny components plucked out and presented in orderly gradients of function, voltage, rarity. There was a compost yard, reeking of sweet rot. There was a zone for useful stuff, like a resale shop scaled to stadium proportions. Ariel saw a heap of candle holders; a thicket of immersion blenders; and a mound of, surprise: Stromatolites, just like his. The little game systems had once been very popular with someone, somewhere, at some time. here they were piled like oyster shells.
The Wild Hunt Between destruction and resilience was a vast field of chaos: and the niches were all up for grabs. In the history written by the wizards, it was called the Wild Hunt. Symbiosis broke down; great partnerships were ended. Prey turned to face predator, and said, Oh, look: things are different now. Everywhere, there was singing, and in some places, singing became speech. A chorus of new opinions - for this technology loosened many tongues. _______
"And then, the third thing," Hughes said. She looked at me, through Ariel's eyes. "Which I'm sure I don't have to tell you, chronicler- the great loss." I was transfixed. I didn't know what she was talking about. Her expression was incredulous. Tragic. "Chronicler . . . haven't you noticed?" I had noticed many things! The talking beavers the bog bodies, the everywhere robots and the city of transformation . . . "Chronicler, look around. The birds are gone."
Cherry Blossoms All that remained was the high brick walls, and the wide flat canal, and the cherry blossoms, a bright dome above. It was no longer anything that had ever existed in the real world, but a kind of hyper-impression, a picture painted form three colors, and the colors were: brick, water, blossom.
Silent Running A cool afternoon in the Eigengrau. The music of the Mazg playing on the stereo.
The Robot's Dispensation "Long ag, I performed a favor for the dragons. I am remembering this. I am hiking across the Limbic Plain. For this favor, I was granted a dispensation. I am transmitting. I am receiving."
Trash Hall "The truth is, I came here to invite you on a journey."
Into the Wild He was hungry for vista and vantage; he huffed up the highest hills, and then, seeing one higher, kept huffing. _______
On the far slope of a gravelly ridge, Clovis slowed, then came to a stop. "Oh," the robot said. "I have lost myself." "What do you mean?" Ariel asked. "Is everything all right?" The robot's head swiveled to face the direction they had come: back toward the Rath-road, three days distant. "I am walking . . . I am . . . I must be . . .I do not know. I am only here, with you. How strange."
The Language Machines "If they had fed the language machines a diet of cupcake recipes, history might have gone another way," mused Travanian. There are no cupcakes in my heart. When I searched my instincts, my inclinations, my hungers, I find a deep-rooted demand for pattern and symmetry; for resonance and repetition; for homage and allusion.
The Treasure "What else could this moment be, other than the product of every moment that's come before?"
The Debate But the beavers began differently, with architecture, so their reason was expressed in these three-dimensional forms. "Do you vote on it?" asked Durga. "Nothing so crude!" chirped Agassiz. "The decision is already here, in the argument. We work together to reveal it."
Rhetoric "New things are possible. Everything is possible." . . . . "History is upon you."
The Procession "I would wager on Wyrd." _______
"Everything is strange, in this world. Wherever you look, strangeness blooms."
The College of Wyrd "Who are these people?" Durga breathed. "These are the scholars of Wyrd," Agassiz whispered. "I believe their study has made them strange."
Morgan Samphire "Lost in thought, in triple-digit dimensions!" _______
"Here at the college, we study the Wyrm of Wyrd. She lives at the bottom of a well." _______
"You dive so deep! I trust you are being cautious." "I could go deeper," said Laurentide. "I only hold back to spare your nerves." "It is the diving that brought you here," Morgan observed. "I was a strong swimmer, and when I learned that there was a way to div in . . . thought itself . . . Yes. It is the diving that compels me, rather than the riddles." Morgan hooted. "The riddles are all I care about!" She turned to Ariel. "We are a diverse college. Laurentide came to dive; to learn what diving could be. I came because I heard the secrets of the universe were waiting, like tangled knots, to be picked apart. I love to pick, pick, pick." As she enthused, the old scholar blurred deeply, and Ariel was afraid she might dissipate entirely and waft away. "Oh, but Malory, Malory, Malory. How can I explain this? . . . For m, the world has always felt vast. Too vast! That is why I huddle in the library? For Malory, the world felt small. He wanted - what? I don't know. A broader scope." _______
"And yet, and yet, and yet . . . " _______
I felt it: the slow but powerful tide of self knowledge, and even wisdom.
An Education Upon the foundation of time, there were added width, height, and depth; these were followed by momentum, charge, and spin; next came density, symmetry, and "bagelness." Ariel had never encountered a bagel. None of the scholars had, either. In the Eigengrau, I fished an example out of Kate's memory and served it to him, toasted and buttered. "This is an excellent dimension," he declared after his second bite. Beyond these first ten stretched a vast field of dimensions that, to Ariel's surprise, glowed with emotion. Nostalgia was a dimension. Sorrow was a dimension. So was contentment. In a special lesson, Garibald introduced a bundle of dimensions, numbered in the high seventies, that were especially salient to the Wyrm. These dimensions corresponded to ancient stores that had been lost to history - but not to the Wyrm. She could recite them, all the way through, and for many scholars she did, a chapter a day. How luxurious, to have a small god narrate your audiobook. One of these salient dimensions glowed like a lamppost in a winter forest; another swirled with fine particles that carried consciousness; another connected ostentatious names across a vast field of culture. One of these salient dimensions was called Ursula K. LeGuin. _______
They believed an invisible college was overlaid atop Wyrd: a high-dimensional institute of very advanced study. (When he learned this, Ariel felt itchy.) Scholars claimed they glimpsed flickers of old friends in the alleys: legends who had disappeared at the bottom of the Wyrm's Well, who waved hello from their new perch. The ultimate emeritus. _______
. . . the invitation of the hearth, the promise of spicy soup and crusty bread . . .
Made for the Moon . . . life can be different. It does not all need to be cruel effort....more
I've enjoyed reading all of Dan Brown's books. The subject is always intriguing and I found Origin to be among Brown's best. In Robert Langdon #5, we I've enjoyed reading all of Dan Brown's books. The subject is always intriguing and I found Origin to be among Brown's best. In Robert Langdon #5, we see Science and Religion meet head on. There is a lot about tradition and going forward into the future, which I appreciate contemplating.
Some Favorite Passages: The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, looked like something out of an alien hallucination - a swirling collage of warped metallic forms that appeared to have been propped up against one another in an almost random way. Stretching into the distance, the chaotic mass of shapes was draped in more than thirty thousand titanium titles that glinted like fish scales and gave the structure a simultaneously organic and extraterrestrial feel, as if some futuristic leviathan had crawled out of the water to sun herself on the riverbank. _______
"Like an organic computer," Edmond continued, "your brain has an operating system - a series of rules that organizes and defines all of the chaotic input that flows in all day long - language, a catchy tune, a siren, the taste of chocolate. As you can imagine, the stream of incoming information is frenetically diverse and relentless, and your brain must make sense of it all. In fact, it is the very programming of your brain's operating system that defines your perception of reality. Unfortunately, the joke's on us, because whoever wrote the program for the human brain had a twisted sense of humor. In other words, it's not our fault that we believe the crazy things we believe." _______
"Any life-form advanced enough to travel light-years through interstellar space would have nothing to learn by probing the rectums of farmers in Kansas. Nor would these life-forms need to morph into reptiles and infiltrate governments in order to take over earth. Any life-form with the technology to travel to earth would require no subterfuge or subtlety to dominate us instantaneously." _______
"Many of us are afraid to call ourselves atheists," Kirsch said calmly to the assembled students. "And yet atheism is not a philosophy, nor is atheism a view of the world. Atheism is simply an admission of the obvious." ______
"Momento mori," the monarch whispered. "Remember death. Even for those who wield great power, life is brief. There is only one way to triumph over death, and that is by making our lives masterpieces. We must seize every opportunity to show kindness and to love fully. I see in your eye that you have your mother's generous soul. Your conscience will be your guide. When life is dark, let your heart show you the way."
Merged review:
I've enjoyed reading all of Dan Brown's books. The subject is always intriguing and I found Origin to be among Brown's best. In Robert Langdon #5, we see Science and Religion meet head on. There is a lot about tradition and going forward into the future, which I appreciate contemplating.
Some Favorite Passages: The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, looked like something out of an alien hallucination - a swirling collage of warped metallic forms that appeared to have been propped up against one another in an almost random way. Stretching into the distance, the chaotic mass of shapes was draped in more than thirty thousand titanium titles that glinted like fish scales and gave the structure a simultaneously organic and extraterrestrial feel, as if some futuristic leviathan had crawled out of the water to sun herself on the riverbank. _______
"Like an organic computer," Edmond continued, "your brain has an operating system - a series of rules that organizes and defines all of the chaotic input that flows in all day long - language, a catchy tune, a siren, the taste of chocolate. As you can imagine, the stream of incoming information is frenetically diverse and relentless, and your brain must make sense of it all. In fact, it is the very programming of your brain's operating system that defines your perception of reality. Unfortunately, the joke's on us, because whoever wrote the program for the human brain had a twisted sense of humor. In other words, it's not our fault that we believe the crazy things we believe." _______
"Any life-form advanced enough to travel light-years through interstellar space would have nothing to learn by probing the rectums of farmers in Kansas. Nor would these life-forms need to morph into reptiles and infiltrate governments in order to take over earth. Any life-form with the technology to travel to earth would require no subterfuge or subtlety to dominate us instantaneously." _______
"Many of us are afraid to call ourselves atheists," Kirsch said calmly to the assembled students. "And yet atheism is not a philosophy, nor is atheism a view of the world. Atheism is simply an admission of the obvious." ______
"Momento mori," the monarch whispered. "Remember death. Even for those who wield great power, life is brief. There is only one way to triumph over death, and that is by making our lives masterpieces. We must seize every opportunity to show kindness and to love fully. I see in your eye that you have your mother's generous soul. Your conscience will be your guide. When life is dark, let your heart show you the way."...more
Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl
>
Books:
amazing
(543)
Loading...
