Challenge 07: Do you read? What are your favourite books?
I present to you, in no particular order..
"There are symbolic dreams - dreams that symbolize some reality. Then there are symbolic realities - realities that symbolize a dream. Symbols are what you might call the honorary town councillors of the worm universe. In the worm universe, there is nothing unusual about a dairy cow seeking a pair of pliers. Yet the fact that the cow chose me to obtain her pliers changes everything. This plunges me into a whole universe of alternative considerations. And in this universe of alternative considerations, the major problem is that everything becomes protracted and complex."
- Haruki Murakami, A Wild Sheep Chase
"It's rather a mysterious sort of wood, don't you think so?" said Jo thoughtfully.
"They don't quite," said Fanny. "The noise the leaves make is different - listen!"
They listened. The leaves of the tree in the wood did not rustle in quite the same way as the other trees. It's almost as if they were talking to one another, whispering secrets - real secrets that we just don't understand. Nobody said anything. Wisha - wisha - wisha! said the trees in the wood, and bent towards one another in a friendly way.
"It's a magic wood!" said Fanny suddenly.
- Enid Blyton, The Faraway Tree
"Blood everywhere. Nightmarish splashes and gory pools. Wild streaks across the floor and walls. I'm surrounded on all four sides by webs. Millions of web strands stained with blood. Behind the layer of web is an infinite darkness. There's a dripping sound - a body hanging upside down stuck on the web. No head - blood rushes out of the gaping neck. Even without the neck, I recognise him.
"Dad!" I scream, and the cry almost rip my vocal chords apart.
A dreadful howl to my right. I see my sister, Gret, her face white, her body split in two. Something's behind her. It pushes her a way. It's a child, but no child of this world. It has the body of a three year old, but with a head larger than a human being. Pale green skin. No eyes - a small ball of fire flickers in each of its empty sockets. No hair - yet its head is alive with movement. As the hell child advances I see that the objects are cockroaches. Living. Feeding on its rotten flesh."
- Darren Shan, the Demonata Series
"But the big things - how we think, what we value - those you must choose yourself. You can't let anyone - or any society - determine those for you. The problem, Mitch, is that we don't believe how much alike we are. Invest in human family. Invest in people. Build a little community of those you love and who love you.
In the beginning of life, when we are infants, we need others to survive, right? And at the end of life, when you get like me, you need others to survive, right?"
His voice dropped down to a whisper. "But here's the secret: in between, we need others as well."
-Mitch Albom, Tuesdays With Morrie
"A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely."
-Roald Dahl, The Twits, and Charlie and The Chocolate Factory
-Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point
"When I concentrate on a specific site or place for which I am going to design a building, when I try to plumb its depths, its form, its history, and its sensuous qualities, images of other places start to invade this process of precise observation: images of places I know and that once impressed me, images of ordinary or special places that I carry with me as inner visions of specific moods and qualities; images of architectural situations, which emanate from the world of art, or films, theater or literature."
- Peter Zumthor, Thinking Architecture
"One of the weird parts of high school, and maybe this continues when you leave education behind, is the feeling that each day takes forever. The minutes from the first light until the last IM at night stretch out like an eternity, and yet, when I think back on entire years, I can only recall one or two vivid moments, or a generic feeling that sums up the whole twelve months."
- Love Bukowski through Emily Franklin, The Principles of Love
"Sometimes, people can go missing right before our very eyes. Sometimes, people discover you, even though they've been looking at you all the entire time. Sometimes, we lose sight of ourselves when we're not paying enough attention.
We all get lost once in a while, sometimes by choice, sometimes due to forces beyond our control. When we learn what it is our soul needs to learn, the path presents itself. Sometimes we see they way out but we fear it, the anger or sadness preventing us from returning. Sometimes we prefer to be lost and wandering, sometimes it's easier. Sometimes we find our own way back. But regardless, always, we are found."
-Cecelia Ahern, A Place Called Here.
(Trivia: Ahern was 21 years old when she wrote her first novel, the best selling P.S. I Love You)
And above all...
"But this is touching, Severus," said Dumbledore seriously. "Have you grown to care for the boy, after all?"
"For him?" shouted Snape. "Expecto Patronum!"
From the tip of his wand burst the silver doe. She landed on the office floor, bounded once across the office, and soared out of the window. Dumbledore watched her fly away, and as her silvery glow faded he turned back to Snape, and his eyes were full of tears.
"After all this time?"
"Always," said Snape.
- JK Rowling, Harry Potter
I should also include some others: Kampung Boy by Lat. Apricots at Midnight, by Adele Geras. R.L. Stine. Lemony Snicket. Dan Brown. Nicola and the Viscount, by Meg Cabot. The Undomestic Goddess, by Sophie Kinsella. 39 Clues, a collaboration series by numerous authors. Paul Coelho. Horrible History series. To add other reading material: National Geographic. Reader's Digest. And many, many more. Of the things you could know about me, you must understand this: I consume books. That being said, I genuinely should read more local literature.
No comments:
Post a Comment