#*favbooks

favourite novels x Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

endless list of favorite books → the infernal devices by cassandra clare

WEEKLY BOOK REC: Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

Every day we’re told that we live in the greatest country on earth. And it’s always stated as an undeniable fact: Leos are born between July 23 and August 22, fitted queen-size sheets measure sixty by eighty inches, and America is the greatest country on earth. Having grown up with this in our ears, it’s startling to realize that other countries have nationalistic slogans of their own, none of which are ‘We’re number two!

about the book/author

david sedaris is a gay jewish man who is also one of the funniest people alive

seriously i cried laughing reading this

this is a collection of nonfiction stories from sedaris’ life

so like, a memoir

and his life is fucked up 

but in a very entertaining way

it won the lambda literary award for humor

why you should read the book

it’s incredibly funny but in a very strategic way

he spools out his stories as cleverly as he can, and he knows all the right places to make a punchline

any language learner will 100% relate i swear to god

also, for bonus points, listening to the audiobook is a very, very enjoyable experience (perhaps on a roadtrip) bc he is one of the best at reading his own work aloud, that’s just fact

they’re all self-encapsulated mini stories so you can pick it up and put it down to your liking

books I love {in no particular order} ⇝ The Mermaid’s Sister by Carrie Anne Noble

We catch one another’s eye. In Maren’s, I can see the green-blue of the ocean. A tide of sorrow rushes over my heart. The ocean is so very far away. How will I live without my sister? She is the strong one, the outgoing one, the shiny-as-a-new-coin one. The one the village boys smile at, the one who charms extra pennies from the shrewdest of housewives when we sell our vegetables in the village square.

What am I without her?

favourite novels x Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë

Upon the whole, however, I am quite vain enough and well satisfied enough. The work is rather too light, and bright, and sparkling; it wants shade; it wants to be stretched out here and there with a long chapter of sense, if it could be had; if not, of solemn specious nonsense, about something unconnected with the story; an essay on writing, a critique on Walter Scott, or the history of Buonaparte, or anything that would form a contrast, and bring the reader with increased delight to the playfulness and epigrammatism of the general style.

as doth the flower revolve to meet the sun, once more my spirit to sweet comfort turns, struck by thy words' invigorating ray. how dear the counsel of a present friend, lacking whose godlike power, the lonely one in silence droops! for, lock'd within his breast, slowly are ripen'd purpose and resolve, which friendship's genial warmth had soon matur'd.

– Iphigenia in Tauris, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

favourite books x  The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien

“Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating, and even gruesome, may make a good tale, and take a deal of telling anyway.”

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“There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”

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