Book Archives!

Alphabetical list of all of the books I've read and reviewed/discussed here.  We'll see how long this alphabetical thing works out...

A
Adelstein, Jake. Tokyo Vice
Journalism is always about the results, not the effort

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi
Americanah
She's gone, she's learned, and she's conquered
We Should All Be Feminists
Imagine how much happier we would be...if we didn't have the weight of gender expectations

Ajayi, Luvvie. I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual
Oh, people. We're the worst

Allan, Jonathan, Cristina Santos & Adriana Spahr. Virgin Envy: The Cultural (In)Significance of the Hymen
How, exactly, does one 'lose' something that technically is a lack in the first place?

al-Shaykh, Hanan. Beirut Blues
I don't want to keep my country imprisoned in my memory

Andersen, Sarah. Herding Cats
...I just want to enjoy being alive

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak
I am getting better at smiling when people expect it

Ansari, Aziz and Eric Klinenberg, Modern Romance
This whole idea of marrying for happiness and love is relatively new

Atkinson, Kate. Life After Life
Darkness fell swiftly, at first an enemy, but then a friend 

Atwood, Margaret, Hag-Seed
To the elements be free

Austen, Jane
Emma
One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other 
Pride and Prejudice
But vanity, not love, has been my folly
Your lively talents would place you in the greatest danger in an unequal marriage

B
Baker, Chris and Jacob Hansen. The Elements of F*cking Style: A Helpful Parody
A summary with multiple tenses is like a prostitute with multiple reproductive organs - unseemly 

Baker, Elna. The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance
I was about to break out into a desperate fit of single virgin rage

Barbery, Muriel. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
I realized that in his presence I had forgotten even the very notion of trying to hide who I was 

Barrett, A. Igoni. Blackass
It is easier to be than to become

Barry, Max. Lexicon
The fact was, if you paid attention, people tried to persuade each other all the time. It was all they did.

Bate, Jonathan. Soul of the Age: A Biography of the Mind of William Shakespeare
All the world's a stage
A sonnet is a crystallization of the emotion of a moment
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything

Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
I was Spartan to my father's Athenian. Modern to his Victorian. Butch to his Nelly. Utilitarian to his aesthete.

Belanger, Andy, Anthony Del Col, Conor McCreery. Kill Shakespeare: A Sea of Troubles (Vol 1)
Will you free us from the tyranny of William Shakespeare? 

Bender, Aimee. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
It tastes empty

Benincasa, Sara. Agorafabulous! Dispatches from My Bedroom
Comedy is tragedy plus time, right? 

Bennett, Jessica. Feminist Fight Club: An Office Survival Manual (for a Sexist Workplace)
We fight patriarchy, not one another

Berendt, John. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Savannah was invariably gracious to strangers, but it was immune to their charms

Bernheimer, Kate.(ed) My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me
Readers love fairy tales 

Bourdain, Anthony. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
It's nice, sometimes, to know how low you can really go

Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. Lady Audley's Secret
Grief is so selfish 
I did not think men were capable of these deep and lasting affections
Foul deeds have been done under the most hospitable roofs 
Heaven knows I was never born to be the avenger of guilt
You know the secret of my life 

Bronte, Charlotte
Jane Eyre
Restlessness was in my nature
My future husband was becoming my whole world to me
Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel
Vilette
To pinafores she had an antipathy
I would not be you for a kingdom
He actually thought I was stung with a kind of jealous pain similar to his own!
Your old October was only desirable while forbidden
When did you ever see me trouble my head about my dignity?
Lucy, I wonder if anybody will ever comprehend you altogether
Fascinated as by a basilisk with three heads, I could not leave this clique

Brooks,Max
World War Z
It goes by many names: "The Crisis," "The Dark Years," "The Walking Plague"
Who in their right mind could have been ready for this?
Couldn't just one restart the plague all over again?
World War Z: The Listening
The Zombie Survival Guide
Survival is the key word to remember

Brosh, Allie. Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened
INTERNET! Forever... 

Brunt, Carol Rifka. Tell The Wolves I'm Home
Everyone needs to think they have secrets 

Bryson, Bill 
At Home: A Short History of Private Life.
It is remarkable to think that people thought of striped fabrics before they thought of doors and windows.
For anyone of a rational disposition, fashion is often nearly impossible to fathom.
In a Sunburned Country
That is the thing about Australia, of course - that it is packed with unappreciated wonders
The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town American
I was in a part of the world where you could drive hundreds of miles in any direction before you found civilization
The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way
More than 300 million people in the world speak English and the rest, it sometimes seems, try to.
Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe 
I loved the idea that you could never be sure of anything in Europe 
Travel is more fun - hell, life is more fun - if you can treat it as a series of impulses
One Summer: America 1927
Whatever else it was, it was one hell of a summer
Shakespeare: The World as Stage
[Shakespeare] is kind of a literary equivalent of an electron - forever there and not there

Bushnell, Jeremy. Weirdness
Souls are like ideas...Everybody has one that they think is worth something

Butler, Octavia E.
Fledgling
When your rage is choking you, it is best to say nothing
Kindred
Slavery was a long slow process of dulling
Lilith's Brood trilogy: Dawn
Parable of the Sower
God Is Change
Parable of the Talents
Everyone needs to be part of something
Seed to Harvest series: Wild Seed
Civilization is the way one's own people live. Savagery is the way foreigners live
Seed to Harvest series: Mind of My Mind
I wish I knew what the hell you were doing. Aside from playing God, I mean.
Seed to Harvest series: Clay's Ark
A dangerous practice these days -- taking in strays

C
Cain, Susan. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
Why shouldn't quiet be strong? And what else can quiet do that we don't give it credit for?

Capote, Truman. Breakfast at Tiffany's
If there's one thing I loathe, it's men who bite

Carmon, Irin and Shana Knizhnik. Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsberg
Sometimes it helps to be a little deaf

Carol Oates, Joyce. Zombie
A true ZOMBIE would be mine forever 

Caudron, Shari. Who Are You People? A Personal Journey into the Heart of Fanatical Passion in America
I wanted a grand, ferocious, larger-than-life fervor that knew no bounds 

Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton
HamAlong Part I: Justice shall be done to the memory of my Hamilton
HamAlong Part II: Cold in my professions, warm in my friendships
HamAlong Post III Hamilton: a veritable Niagara of opinion
HamAlong Post IV: If politics is preeminently the art of compromise, then Hamilton was in some ways poorly suited for his job
HamAlong Post V: Hamilton, the bare-knuckled polemicist
HamAlong Post VI: Hamilton would fight the whole party one by one
HamAlong Post VII: Hamilton found it hard to refrain from vendettas
HamAlong Post VIII The Finale: Best of Wives and Best of Women

Clark, Susanna. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Cline, Ernest. Ready Player One
Halliday seemed to expect everyone around him to share his obsessions, and he often lashed out at those who didn't

Coates, Ta-Nehisi. 
Between the World and Me
Soft or hard, love was an act of heroism
We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy
Everything was bright. Everything was rising. Everything was a dream

Cohen, Elisabeth. The Glitch
Live in the world of data, not delusion

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games
Yes, [the Gamemakers] have to have a victor

Collins, Wilkie. 
The Moonstone
Whatever happens in a house, robbery or murder, it doesn't matter, you must have your breakfast
I am (thank God!) constitutionally superior to reason
For your own sake, get on with your grog
The vengence of opium
The Woman in White
We don't want genius in this country, unless it's accompanied by respectability
Why he should have been so discomposed by a trifle I cannot say - but he was seriously discomposed
I this it was also perfectly natural that I should damn him for grinning
My hands tingled to strike him, as if I had been a man!

Conklin, Tara. The House Girl
The harm was everyone and everywhere 

Crammer, David & Scott D. Parker. Beat to a Pulp: Hardboiled
True, hardboiled fiction is also escapist. It offers a low-risk walk on the wild side 

Cronin, Justin. The Passage

The world - the human race - had been overcome by events

Crosley, Sloane. I Was Told There'd Be Cake
As most New Yorkers have done, I have given serious and generous thought to the state of my apartment should I get killed during the day

Cunningham, Michael. The Hours
There are still the flowers to buy

D
Dahl, Roald (ed). Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories
Such ordinary things make me afraid 

Danticat, Edwidge. The Farming of Bones

deWitt, Patrick. The Sisters Brothers
"It's hard to find a friend," I said. "It is the hardest thing in the world," he agreed

Dick, Philip K. "The Adjustment Team"
No, you're not dead. You're just...visiting.

Dickens, Charles. Bleak House

She regards a ghost as one of those privileges of the upper class 
In the matter of gravy he is adamant 
My lady, whose chronic malady of boredom has been sadly aggravated by Volumnia this evening 
The one great principle of the English law is to make business for itself  
Interposed between her and the fading light of day in the quiet street, his shadow falls upon her, and he darks all before her 
It won't do to have truth and justice on his side; he must have law and lawyers 
Although an undoubted vagabond, I am a vagabond of the harum-scarum order 

Donoghue, Emma. Room
If Room wasn't our home, does that mean we don't have one?

Dougherty, Chris. Zombie, Inc.
Armed personnel will be in attendance, and refreshments will be served 

Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Hound of the Baskervilles
The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes

Dubner, Stephen and Steven Levitt
Superfreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance
People respond to incentives
Think Like A Freak
When you ask the question differently, you look for answers in different places
When to Rob a Bank...and 131 More Warped Suggestions and Well-Intended Rants
Some of the best ideas in history - nearly all of them, in fact - sounded crazy at first

Dunham, Lena. Not That Kind Of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She "Learned"
Nothing was a tragedy, and everything was a joke

E
Ebert, Roger. Your Movie Sucks
It's a failing of mine that I persist in bringing logic to movies where it is not wanted

Eddo-Lodge, Reni. Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race
There is no justice. Just us

Edin, Katheryn J. and H. Luke Shaefer. $2.00 A Day: Living On Almost Nothing in America
Barely making it on $13 an hour is Jennifer's version of the American dream

Egan, Jennifer. A Visit from the Goon Squad
Time's a goon, right?

Eggers, Dave. Zeitoun
I feel like I'm supposed to be here

F
Fey, Tina. Bossypants
Only in comedy, by the way, does an obedient white girl from the suburbs count as diversity.

Fforde, Jasper 
The Chronicles of Kazam: The Last Dragonslayer
Welcome to Kazam...where unimaginable horrors share the day with moments of confusing perplexity and utter randomness
Nursery Crimes: The Big Over Easy
Humpty Dumpty. The fall guy.
Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron
Apart We Are Together
Thursday Next: The Eyre Affair
Thursday Next: One of Our Thursdays is Missing
[That's] the RealWorld for you. A brutal and beautiful place, run for the most part on passions, fads, incentives and mathematics.
Thursday Next: The Woman Who Died A Lot
I'm too valuable to assassinate 

Fielding, Helen. Bridget Jones's Diary
How's your love life, anyway?

Finney, Jack. Time and Again
The only possible way you can do this is to just go ahead and do it.
But it was a fine and exciting Ladies' Mile, doped-up baby or not

Fleming, Ian. Dr. No

Morning 007

Flynn, Gillian. Gone Girl
There's something disturbing about recalling a warm memory and feeling utterly cold

Franzen, Jonathan. The Corrections
You could feel it: something terrible was going to happen
Nevermind what's going on underneath. As long as we're all "civil"
Beauty or excellence...could redeem almost any humiliation
So many you think are going to matter...turn out not to matter

Fredrickson, George M. Racism: A Short History
Racism is not...merely "xenophobia" 

French, Tana. In The Woods
What I am telling you, before you begin my story, is this - two things: I crave truth. And I lie. 

Frissore, Michael. Puppet Shows
My parents were now a dim Italian and a performing monkey  

G

Gaiman, Neil 
American Gods
If you can fake sincerity, you've got it made 
Coraline
Coraline discovered the door a little while after they moved into the house
The Graveyard Book
It's only death. I mean, all of my best friends are dead
Neverwhere
He's a little dodgy in the same way that rats are a little bit covered in fur

Gaiman, Neil & Terry Pratchett. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. 
That's how it goes, you think you're on top of the world, and suddenly they spring Armageddon on you 

Gay, Roxane. Bad Feminist
Change requires intent and effort 

Gibbons, Brittany. Fat Girl Walking: Sex, Food, Love, and Being Comfortable in Your Skin...Every Inch of It
I am the internet's token fat girl

Giordano, Paolo. The Solitude of Prime Numbers
The weight of consequences was always there

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies
Ralph wept for the end of innocence

Gonzales, Manuel. The Regional Office is Under Attack!
Don't be a stranger

Goshgarian, Gary. (ed) Horrorscape
It was this unfathomable longing of the soul to vex itself 
There is no delight equal of dread
He might try to help you, in his way. And that could be pretty horrible. If he didn't like you...well, that could be worse

Grahame-Smith, Seth. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Some people, Abraham, are just too interesting to kill 

Green, John. The Fault in Our Stars
[The] diagnosis came three months after I got my first period. Like: Congratulations! You're a woman. Now die.

H
Hamid, Mohsin. The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Do not be frightened of my beard: I am a lover of America 
 
Hammett, Dashiell. The Maltese Falcon
If you lose a son it's possible to get another--and there's only one Maltese falcon

Handler, Chelsea. My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands
I prefer to do my walks of shame in the evening, when it's not so bright.

Harrington, Rebecca. Sociable

I want you to come up with a viral thing that goes viral

Hawkins, Paula. The Girl on the Train
There's nothing so painful, so corrosive, as suspicion

Heldt, John A. The Mine
She was literally too good to be true

Hely, Steve. How I Became A Famous Novelist
The financial success of an author is inversely proportional to the literary worth of the book

Hendrix, Grady. 

Horrorstor
It's not just a job. It's the rest of your life
My Best Friend's Exorcism
She remembers when the word "friend" could draw blood

Hill, Joe.  
The Fireman
All Firemen are wedded to cinders, in the end
Heart-Shaped Box
Pain has a way of wakin' you up. Of remindin' you who you are
Horns 
The language of sin was universal, the original Esperanto
NOS4A2
Blood will never come out of silk

Hill, Joe and Stephen King. In The Tall Grass
On the other side of 400 there was nothing but high green grass

Hill, Joe and Gabriel Rodriguez. Locke & Key
Keys turn both ways

Hogan, Phil. A Pleasure and a Calling
Where some stand out, I stand back

Huxley, AldousBrave New World
Brave New World, first few chapters
Quick Thoughts - Chapters 6 & 7
Brave New World, last thoughts

I
Irby, Samantha. 
Meaty
I am excited because I am thirty years old and I don't have a man in my life
We Are Never Meeting In Real Life
Hopefully lesbian bed death is real

Isenberg, Nancy. White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America
How does a culture that prizes equality of opportunity explain...its persistently marginalized people?

Ishiguro, Kazuo. Never Let Me Go
Being dependent on each other to produce that stuff that might become your private treasures - that's bound to do things to your relationship

J

Jackson, Shirley. The Haunting of Hill House
No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality

Jacobs, A. J.
It's All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World's Family Tree

We're all linked
Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection
The key to making healthy decisions is to respect your future self
The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World
You'd be surprised how many days can go by without one of my friends mentioning aardvarks
My Life as an Experiment: One Man's Humble Quest to Improve Himself by Living as a Woman, Becoming George Washington, Telling No Lies, and Other Radical Tests
The goal is that you're able to keep the good parts and not descent into insanity
The Year of Living Biblically
I thought religion would make me live with my heads in the clouds, but often as not, it grounds me in this world

Jian, Ma. Beijing Coma
No one living in a dictatorship has a healthy state of mind

Johnson, Steven. Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter

K
Kaling, Mindy. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)
I respond very well to people being overly familiar with me a little too soon

Kelly, Mary Louis. The Bullet
It takes only an instant for a bullet to split the air and steal a life

Keplinger, Kody. The DUFF
I decided that there were a lot of benefits to being the Duff

Kerman, Piper. Orange Is The New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison
Prison is so much about the people who are missing from your life and who fill your imagination 

Kilmeade, Brian and Don Yaeger. George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved The American Revolution
How do you discover the identify of a spy...who has been dead for nearly a century?

King, Lily. Euphoria
Personality depends on context, just like culture

King, Stephen 
11/22/63: A Novel
Even people capable of living in the past don't really know what the future holds
Danse Macabre
Why do people want to be horrified?
Different Seasons
You guys want to go see a dead body?
Dreamcatcher
His first reaction to the unplanned and unexpected wasn't a frown but a smile
Duddits is their dreamcatcher
Everything's Eventual
The Shining
Protecting the hotel was his job. He was the caretaker
Under the Dome
The Constitution's been canceled in The Mill

Kinsella, Sophie. Confessions of a Shopaholic
No one who writes about personal finance ever meant to do it

Klausner, Julie. I Don't Care About Your Band
Your twenties are the worst part of your life that you don't actually know at the time is terrible

Klosterman, Chuck. I Wear The Black Hat: Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined)
What is the most villainous move on the market?

Knisley, Lucy
Kid Gloves
Pregnancy isn't easy, but it's pretty cool at the same time
Something New: Tales from a Makeshift Bride
It's hard to explain how little and much things have changed

Knoll, Jessica. Luckiest Girl Alive
I'm no plucky heroine, claiming ignorance of her quiet beauty and quirky charm

Koch, Herman. The Dinner
Unhappiness can't stand silence

Kolbert, Elizabeth. The Sixth Extinction
Life is extremely resilient but not infinitely so

Kondo, Marie. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
Tidying is just a tool, not the final destination

Kubica, Mary. The Good Girl
People like to feel as if they're important

Kuhn, Shane. The Intern's Handbook
Now, let's go kill someone, shall we?

Kwan, Kevin
Crazy Rich Asians
These people are richer than God
China Rich Girlfriend
Anyone can be forgiven. Anything can be forgotten
Rich People Problems
You will quickly see that it is Su Yi who rules over everything

L
Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Namesake
In so many ways, his family's life feels like a string of accidents, unforeseen, unintended, one begetting another

Larsson, Stieg. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Boston Book Festival, Full Frontal Feminism and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
A talent for seeing patterns and understanding abstract reasoning where other people perceive only white noise 

Lawson, Jenny
Furiously Happy
Sometimes crazy is just right
Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir)
No one ever expects vaginal arthritis

Lehane, Dennis. 
Coronado
It won't be our future. It'll be our noose
Darkness, Take My Hand
A guy who used a minefield for home protection was telling us Jack and Kevin weren't stable
A Drink Before the War
Know what the American way is?...Finding someone to blame
Gone, Baby, Gone

It's a nasty world out there, and it's never been nice to children.
Sacred
Everyone is suspect. Everyone is suspect.
Shutter Island
The fury of its own self-destruction creates an entirely new monster
 
Lepucki, Edan. California
Curiosity leads to trouble. You'll learn one of these days 

Levin, Ira. 
Rosemary's Baby
She didn't know if she was going mad or going sane 
Stepford Wives
Stepford is out of step

Levithan, David. The Lover's Dictionary
M
Malerman, Josh. Bird Box
How far can a person hear?

Mandel, Emily St. John. Station Eleven
Because survival is insufficient

Mann, Jen. People I Want To Punch In The Throat
Mommy Wars are all about who can out-mom their neighbor

Marion, Isaac. Warm Bodies
I'm dead, but it's not so bad. I've learned to live with it

Martell, Nevin. Looking for Calvin and Hobbes
Let's go exploring!

Martin, George R.R. 
A Game of Thrones
Can a man still be brave if he is afraid? 
A Clash of Kings
All sorts of people are calling themselves kings these days
A Storm of Swords
Gods be good, why would any man ever want to be king?
A Feast for Crows
No one who wears a crown is ever safe

Mastai, Elan. All Our Wrong Todays
You don't need time travel to smash apart a world. But it helps

Matheson, Richard. I Am Legend
How quickly one accepts the incredible if only one sees it enough! 

Melinek, Dr. Judy and T.J. Mitchell. Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner
Staying alive, as it turns out, is mostly common sense

Mieville, China. The City & The City
Dopplurbanology
You breached

Miles, Jonathan. Anatomy of a Miracle
What does one do after experiencing a miracle?

Miranda, Lin-Manuel and Jeremy McCarter, Hamilton the Revolution 
Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?

Montgomery, LM. Anne of Green Gables
Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?

Moore, Christopher
Bite Me: A Love Story
Saying rawr is not a vampyre thing
Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story
It was as if vampirism carried with it a crampless case of rattlesnake PMS
Coyote Blue
For a guy that maintains a low profile, you've built quite a little snowball of resentment
You can't just go around breaking people's legs like some Mafioso fairy godmother
A Dirty Job
He realized, with no little sense of irony, that until he became Death, he'd never felt so alive
Fool
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
[Joshua] needs a friend to teach him to be human
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove
Pine Cove was a decorative town...only one degree more functional than a Disney attraction
Practical Demonkeeping
Are you saying...that the human race was created to irritate Satan?
Sacre Bleu: A Comedy D'Art
An artist can't let madness stop him from creating art 
Secondhand Souls
You are a servant of Destiny, not its agent. Get over yourself
The Serpent of Venice
That there's a bismirchin'
The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror
Blessed are the minimarshmallows
You Suck: A Love Story
You shouldn't kill a guy without asking. It's inconsiderate.

Moran, Caitlin.  
How to Build a Girl
I wish I was Bill Murray. I hope everything I've read about evolution is wrong, and I eventually evolve into him
Hearing women sing about themselves - rather than men singing about women - makes everything seem wonderfully clear and possible
You're making a friend right now! Look at your face, in the middle of friending!
Your face - it's clearing telling me to slap it
I have to die - again. And again, the thought makes me very cheerful
How to Be a Woman
I'm neither "pro-women" nor "anti-men". I'm just "Thumbs up for the six billion."
Moranifesto
Oh my god, a change is coming - can you feel it?
Moranthology
Walking a marathon is much, much, much harder than running one. Because everyone thinks it's easy 

Morgenstern, Erin. The Night Circus
The circus arrives without warning

Moriarty, Liane. The Husband's Secret
I guess it shows what you'll do for freedom

Morrison, Toni. Sula
Outlaw women are fascinating
But she had gone on a real trip, and now she was different

Morton, Kate. The Lake House
It seemed a lot of kids dreamed about escaping childhood, of having power over their own destiny

Munroe, Randall. What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
I see [the Icarus story] as a lesson about the limitations of wax as an adhesive

Murakami, Haruki. Norwegian Wood
I'm hopeless as a logical thinker

Murakami, Ryu. In The Miso Soup
Everyone has a good side and a side that's not so good

N
Ng, Celeste. Everything I Never Told You
There is no where to go but on

Nicholls, David. Us
Grief is as much about regret for what you've never had as sadness for what you've lost

Niffenegger, Audrey. The Time Traveler's Wife
Things get kind of circular, when you're me. Cause and effect get muddled 

Noah, Trevor. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
Don't fight the system, mock the system

Norman, Matthew. Domestic Violets
The day you take on a real job with real responsibilities, that's the day you're done writing


O
Ogawa, Yoko. 
Hotel Iris
Somewhere deep inside I was praying that voice would someday give me an order, too
The Housekeeper and the Professor
The truly correct proof is one that strikes a harmonious balance between strength and flexibility
Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales
The desires of the human heart know no reason or rules

Orenstein, Peggy. Cinderella Ate My Daughter
But honestly: since when did every little girl become a princess?

Ortberg, Daniel. The Merry Spinster
Beauty is never private

P
Parry, Leslie. Church of Marvels
Onstage we remind them just how extraordinary the ordinary can be

Parry, Richard Lloyd. People Who Eat Darkness
At first the story was a puzzle, which developed over time into a profound mystery 

Patchett, Ann. State of Wonder
Hope is a horrible thing

Paull, Laline. The Bees
Accept. Obey. Serve. 

Pearlman, Edith. Honeydew
Happiness lengthens time

Pessl, Marisha. Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Dad always said a person must have a magnificent reason for writing his or her Life Story and expecting anyone to read it
We are under an invincible blindness as to the true and real nature of things

Peters, Elizabeth. Crocodile on the Sandbank
Really, the Mummy was becoming ridiculous!

Petersen, Anne Helen. Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of Unruly Women
She navigates the world with the swagger of a mediocre white man

Poehler, Amy. Yes Please
Good for her! Not for me.

Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
Is the unwillingness to pay more for food really a matter of affordability or priority? 

Portis, Charles. True Grit
Naturally I did not wish to use my education in this robber's service

Q
Quart, Alissa. Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers
Teenagers have come to feel consumer good are their friends

Quick, Matthew. The Silver Linings Playbook
I believe in happy endings

Quindlen, Anna. Still Life with Bread Crumbs
There had been bees in her brain, a whole hive, no honey

R
Rae, Issa. The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl
Being an introvert in a world that glorifies cool isn't easy

Reduced Shakespeare Company
The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (abridged)
Reduced Shakespeare: The Complete Guide for the Attention-Impaired [abridged]
We kick the pedestal out from under Shakespeare and make him accessible once again to the grubby, semiliterate, easily distracted masses 

Reynolds, Gretchen. The First 20 Minutes: Surprising Science Reveals How We Can Exercise Better, Train Smarter, Live Longer
The learning curve is, admittedly, steep and humiliating 

Rich, Simon. The Last Girlfriend On Earth and Other Love Stories
She isn't capable of human speech...but she's excited to see you 

Ridgway, Bee. The River of No Return
Nick Davenant had far too much past 

Roach, Mary
Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex
The laboratory study of sex has never been an easy, safe, or well-paid undertaking
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal
Those who know the human gut intimately see beauty
Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War
I'm interested in the parts no one makes movies about - not the killing but the keeping alive
Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void
Brave and anal: the ideal space explorer
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
We are biology. We are reminded of this at the beginning and the end, at birth and death. In between do what we can to forget 

Robinson, Phoebe. You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have To Explain
The joy of seeing yourself in another is not just pertinent to stand-up comedy, but to being alive

Rollins, Henry. Black Coffee Blues
Have you ever tried to outrun yourself?

Roosevelt, Eleanor. It's Up to the Women
The spirit requires cultivation

Rowell, Rainbow
Attachments
He said he preferred Armageddon to Sam's Club
Attachments revisited
Carry On
He's still more good than bad...It just goes to show how much of both a person can be
Eleanor & Park
She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something
Fangirl
To really be a nerd, she'd decided, you had to prefer fictional worlds to the real one
Landline
"Can we go back and start over?" "How far back?"
Kindred Spirits
I'm guessing this is your first line

Rowling, J.K.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Harry - yer a wizard
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts
It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black
Your father is alive in you, Harry
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Moody, we never use Transfiguration as punishment
CONSTANT VIGILANCE
Twitchy little ferret, aren't you, Malfoy?
We are only as strong as we are united, weak as we are divided
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
REMEMBER MY LAST, PETUNIA
I must not tell lies
The thing about growing up with Fred and George...is that you sort of start thinking anything is possible if you've got enough nerve
HP & OotP final post - all the crying
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
HP & HBP part I - still no quote title
I knew I was different. I knew I was special
Dumbledore's man through and through
The Tales of Beedle the Bard
Magic causes as much trouble as it cures
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
I don't think you're a waste of space
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death
It's so unfair that you had to die, when you were so good and brave
Do not pity the the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love
The Cuckoo's Calling (Robert Galbraith)
They saw what they wanted to see, blind to the inconvenient, implacable truth

S
Sacks, Mike and Eric Spitznael ed. Care to Make Love in That Gross Little Space Between Cars?: A Believer Book of Advice
Give me twenty-four hours and I will marry you off to a clown 

Safran Foer, Jonathan. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
[At] the end of my search I wanted to be able to say: I don't know how I could have tried harder 

Santiago, Esmeralda. When I Was Puerto Rican
What a jibara

Saramago, Jose. Blindness
What meaning do tears have when the world has lost all meaning


Sedaris, David
Me Talk Pretty One Day
How many grains of sand are there in the world? A lot. Case closed.
Naked
I was a smart-ass, born and raised

Semple, Maria. Where'd You Go, Bernadette?
I've moved to a state that neighbors Idaho. And any life that might still be left in me kind of goes poof

Setterfield, Diane. The Thirteenth Tale
Our lives at the start are not really our own but only the continuation of someone else's story

Sexton, Anne. Transformations
The boy has found a gold key/and he is looking for what it will open

Shakespeare, William. 
Othello
Law of Transitives and...Othello?
Twelfth Night or What You Will
If music be the food of love, play on

Shetterly, Margot Lee. Hidden Figures: The Untold True Story of Four African-American Women Who Helped Launch Our Nation into Space
Once you took the first step, anything was possible

Shriver, Lionel. We Need to Talk About Kevin
In a country that doesn't discriminate between fame and infamy, the latter presents itself as plainly more achievable 

Silverman, Sarah. The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee
Lacking Adult Coping Skills, I Steal Clean Underwear

Simsion, Graeme
The Rosie Project
Throughout my life I have been criticized for a perceived lack of emotion, as if this were some absolute fault
The Rosie Effect
A society of Rain Men would be dysfunctional. A society of Don Tillmans wold be efficient, safe, and pleasant for all of us

Slater, David Michael. Fun & Games
I've never been able to justify tossing away something millions of people were murdered for

Smith, Ali. How to be both
There's always more to see, if you look

Smith, Anthony Neil
Choke On Your Lies
But there was no way to turn back gracefully now
Hogdoggin'
[There] was no after. Only an end.
Yellow Medicine
Sometimes being feared is an educational thing

Solnit, Rebecca. 
Hope in the Dark
To hope is dangerous, and yet it is the opposite of fear
Men Explain Things To Me
Most women fight wars on two fronts, one for whatever the putative topic is and one simply for the right to speak


Spark, Muriel. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
This is nineteen-thirty-six. The age of chivalry is past. 

Spiegelman, Art
Maus: A Survivor's Tale I: My Father Bleeds History
To die, it's easy. But you have to struggle for life! 
Maus: A Survivor's Tale II: And Here My Troubles Began
I'm tired from talking...and it's enough stories for now

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath
Times are changing, mister. Don't you know? 
Up ahead they's a thousan' lives we might live, but when it comes, it'll on'y be one 
Now farming became industry 
Final Grapes post & Hurricane update 

Steinberg, Avi. Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian
Pimps make the best librarians

Steven, Robert Lewis. Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
It wasn't like a man; it was like some damned Juggernaut 

Stockett, Kathryn. The Help
Then get going. Before this civil rights thing blows over 

Sullivan, J. Courtney. The Engagements
No one can ever know the inner parts of anyone else's marriage. It's a strange business

T
Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club
He was hulihudu. The power of my words was that strong

Thurston, Baratunde. How To Be Black
My name is Baratunde Thurston, and I've been black for over thirty years


T
ropper, 
Jonathan. 
This Is Where I Leave You

Shouldn't you be home, sitting Sheba?

Tuma, Refe and Susan. What the Dinosaurs Did Last Night
The mischief began modestly enough

Tyler, Aisha. Self-Inflicted Wounds: Heartwarming Tales of Epic Humiliation
Pursue failure, and you will trip over success along the way

V
Valenti, Jessica
Full Frontal Feminism
Boston Book Festival, Full Frontal Feminism and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 
Sex Object: A Memoir
I know I'm meant to be the bigger person
Why Have Kids? A New Mom Explores the Truth About Parenting and Happiness
We say motherhood is important, but we sure don't act that way

Vowell, Sarah
Assassination Vacation
One night last summer, all the killers in my head assembled on a stage in Massachusetts to sing show tunes
Lafayette in the Somewhat United States
The Marquis is determined to be in the way of danger
The Partly Cloudy Patriot
American history is a quagmire, and the more one knows, the quaggier the mire gets
Take The Cannoli: Stories from the New World
 Armageddon is kind of a lot to lay on a six-year-old
Unfamiliar Fishes
A painful tale of native loss combined with an idealistic multiethnic saga
The Wordy Shipmates
The only thing more dangerous than an idea is a belief

W
Walker, Alice. The Color Purple
Oh Celie, unbelief is a terrible thing

Walker, Sarai.
Dietland

Pain takes up a lot of space

Wallace, Daniel. The Kings and Queens of Roam
It all began with a single lie

Walter, Jess. The Financial Lives of Poets
The man loves journalism the way pedophiles love children 

Ward, Jesmyn. 
Sing, Unburied, Sing
I will not sink her
Where The Line Bleeds
Yes, they conformed to character, but these two traded skins like any set of twins

Warner, James. All Her Father's Guns
Whiffs of benzene and cordite wafted on the breeze - the smell of freedom


Weir, Andy

Artemis
No idiot-proofing can overcome a determined idiot
The Martian
As you can see, this plan provides many opportunities for me to die in a fiery explosion 

Wells, H.G. The War of the Worlds
The Martians are coming!

Wendig, Chuck 
Atlanta Burns

Nothing good's gonna come out of this, Atlanta Burns. Nothing
Blackbirds
I'm a wait and see kind of girl. More vulture than falcon 
The Blue Blazes
Blood on his fists. Rage in his heart. 
Mockingbird
Yeah, I'm kind of a lone wolf type
Invasive
When the going gets weird, the weird needs Hannah Stander
Zer0es
Trick is figuring out which of us are ones and which of us are zeroes

West, Lindy. Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman
In a certain light, feminism is just the long, slow realization that the stuff you love hates you

Whitehead, Colson. Zone One
The plague had a knack for narrative closure


Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest
The suspense is terrible. I hope it will last


Wilson, G. Willow. Alif the Unseen
So the stories aren't stories is what you're saying. They're really secret knowledge described as stories


Winfield, Jess. My Name is Will: A Novel of Sex, Drugs and Shakespeare
[Maybe] I'll find the meaning of life in a sonnet

Wong, David. John Dies at the End
Um, hi. Do you have any experience with, like, demon...ism?

Wright, Richard. Native Son
He rested his tired head against the steel bars and wondered how was it possible for this man to know so much about him and get so bitterly against him

Y
Yates, Christopher J. Black Chalk
In retrospect, their naivety was staggering

Yousafzai, Malala. I Am Malala
I am Malala. My world has changed but I have not

Yu, Charles. How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
Chronological living is a kind of lie. That's why I don't do it anymore

Z
Zhu, Jianying. China Pop: How Soap Operas, Tabloids, and Bestsellers Are Transforming a Culture
So many of the people I know in China have shed their old skins and picked up new lives

Zirin, David. What's My Name, Fool?: Sports and Resistance in the United States
Screw U.S. Steel.  We're bigger than the damn mafia


Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief