Top Ten Quotes I Loved From Books I Read In The Past Year Or So

 

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This week's topic:  Top Ten Quotes I Loved From Books I Read In The Past Year Or So (taken from Jamie's post topic from Freebie week)

Jana's Picks:

1. “That's the thing about silences and futures; someone always comes along to fill them in. If you let them.” - Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan

2.  “Don't feel bad for one moment about doing what brings you joy.” - A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

3. “Some things you can never leave behind. They don't belong to the past. They belong to you.” - The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Daisy's Picks:

4. “I was the DUFF. And that was a good thing. Because anyone who didn’t feel like the DUFF must not have friends. Every girls feels unattractive sometimes. Why had it taken me so long to figure that out? Why had I been stressing over that dumb word fors o long when it was so simple? I should be proud to be the DUFF. Proud to have great friends who, in their minds, were my DUFFs.” - The DUFF by Kody Keplinger

5. “Please excuse Jason from eternal damnation. He has had amnesia.” - The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

6. “He’s horrible.”
“But effective. Being angry at Kaz for being ruthless is like being angry at a stove for being hot.” - Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

7. “I don’t think you have to do something so big to be brave. And it’s the little things that are harder anyway.” - Since You've Been Gone by Mogan Matson

Jamie's Picks 

 8. "Brave isn't something you are. It's something you do. " -- The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand

9. "It was unrealistic to expect to be constantly in the happy place. In real life, you're lucky just to be always somewhere nearby it. " -- Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen

10. “May we live impossibly,” Sebby said when he opened his eyes. “Against all odds. May people look at us and wonder how such jewels can sparkle in the sad desert of the world. May we live the impossible life.”  — Fans of the Impossible Life by Kate Scelsa

 

Top Ten Tuesday -- 10 Inspiring Quotes from Books

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Jamie's picks

1. “She was the heir of ash and fire, and she would bow to no one.” -- Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

It was just such an empowering statement. Really the whole series inspires me to be a little more badass, a little more confident, even stronger, etc. Be ferociously unapologetic when it comes to fighting for what I want in my life.


2. “The brick walls (in life) are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.” -- The Last Lecture by Randy Paucsh

This whole book was pretty inspiring and I did a lot of dog-earring. Lots of wisdom from a guy who is giving his "last lecture" because he knows he is going to die soon.

3. “Because without our language, we have lost ourselves. Who are we without our words?” Finnikin of the Rock

If you love fantasy, you MUST read this trilogy from Melina Marchetta.  I just loved this quote so much because WORDS WORDS WORDS. They are important. They are everything.


4. “Books light the fire—whether it’s a book that’s already written, or an empty journal that needs to be filled in.” ― Meg Wolitzer, Belzhar

YAY BOOKS AND WORDS.


5. “It's easy to forget to look up when all you do is focus on the road straight ahead.”-- Golden by Jessi Kirby

Truth be told I could have done a whole top ten list just from this book. It's so inspiring and challenging and provoked something within me. This was one of those reminders I needed for sure.

Bridget's Picks

6. “I am too fond of reading books to care to write them.” ― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

For YEARS, my dad has been convinced that one day I’ll be an author. And almost every time he’s brought it up, I’ve more or less paraphrased the above quotation. Just because I like reading books doesn’t mean I think I have any aptitude at all to write them (although the recent publication of crap like 50 Shades of Gray has made me want to try my hand at it, because if effing E. L. James can get three books published and made into movies, why can’t I???).

7. “Isn't it odd how much fatter a book gets when you've read it several times?" Mo had said..."As if something were left between the pages every time you read it. Feelings, thoughts, sounds, smells...and then, when you look at the book again many years later, you find yourself there, too, a slightly younger self, slightly different, as if the book had preserved you like a pressed flower...both strange and familiar.” ― Cornelia Funke, Inkspell

I’ve never read Inkspell, but now I want to. This quote is so true; when I reread something, I always find myself remembering how I felt the last time I read it. It can be jarring, but it’s also kind of amazing how certain words in a certain order can bring back such solid memories, sometimes not even related to the book. 

 Kimberly's Picks 

8. "There are moments when you can't believe something wonderful is happening. And there are moments when your entire consciousness is filled with knowing absolutely that something wonderful is happening." Rainbow Rowell ~ Attachments

I just love the optimism of this. Wonderful things happen! Sometimes we don't even know that it's happening right then. Other times... you just know. That moment of "wonderful" will stick with you forever. 

9.  "... People who create. People whose souls no longer live in their bodies because they've leached so much of themselves into their work." Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

This made me even more determined to keep doing the things I love. Theatre. Put everything you have into what you love. It will start to affect everyone else. Ever listen to a song that someone put their heart and soul into? You can't help but FEEL that! Or looked at a painting. Or watched a performance. Their very essence becomes part of what they make.

 10. "How is it possible that my crush -- my three-year-long crush-- has a  crush on me? This doesn't happen in real life." -- Stephanie Perkins ~ Isla and the Happily Ever After

This quote is so adorable, but it also has special meaning to me. I read this EXACTLY five months ago, literally the night before my wedding. It's how I felt about my now husband. I'd had a crush on him for five years (so did he, apparently) when he finally asked me out! I highlighted this and posted it to instagram. Roughly 10ish hours before I married my 5+ year long crush. <3 

Tell us your favorite inspiring quotes from books!!

Paula discusses her favorite quote, from a book, about books

“A half-read book is a half-finished love affair” –David Mitchell

The first time I read this quote, I stopped in my tracks, went back to the top of the paragraph and read it again. This quote is the epitome of how I feel about books. I cannot not finish a book. I love this quote so much that I now have it hanging above my bookshelf. It fills me with happiness every time I glance at it.

I have always been the kind of person who can only read one book at a time, so I can’t really understand how some people can be half-way through three different books at one time. If we continue Mitchell’s love affair metaphor, I feel like if I am half-way through two different books, I am cheating on them! How dare I lead on one book while I’m involved with another? I must fully devote my time and attention to one story line at a time if I am truly treating my love affair with a book right.

For the most part in my reading experiences, this quote is a non-issue. It makes sense that if you start a book, you will finish it. But there are some books I really want to cheat on. There are some books that are just awful and they drag on. But alas, I am cursed with the inability to put a book down. My mindset is along the lines of, “if it got published, someone must have found something good about it, maybe I will too” I am always hoping that it will get better. Maybe the last hundred pages will redeem it and make it worth my time. I cannot put a book down because it feels unfair to the book. And maybe, no matter how god-awful the book is, I want to know what happens in the end. Sometimes this trait has served me well and the book treats me well. Other times (majority of the time) I am disappointed that I slogged my way through it. But no matter what I am incapable of changing my ways.

I am not sure why I read this way. I would certainly save a lot of time if I could stop a book in the middle. But I agree 100% with David Mitchell. A half-read book is a sad thing indeed. It’s a love affair that has not had the opportunity to be something wonderful, or as love affairs sometimes go, something awful. So until someone convinces me otherwise, I will continue to stick it out until the end. Thank you David Mitchell for so perfectly capturing my feelings about reading into one sentence.

How about you guys? Do you have the inability to put down books? Or are you OK with putting down a book if you aren't feeling it? How far do you get in a book before you put it down? Do you read multiple books at once? Also, do you have a quote, like this one, that shares your general feelings about books?