Top 10 Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish with a different topic each week. This week:
Top 10 Favourite Quotes From Books!
- “I understand I can’t have you. But I want to know you’re in the world with me.” Doug to Zoey in Forget You, by Jennifer Echols. Love this book and love, love, love that line.
- “Do you think people have noticed that I’m around?”
“I notice when you’re not. Does that count?”
That one comes from Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta and is between Francesca and Will, another of my favourite pairings in contemporary YA literature. I could almost quote that whole book really but that one is definitely one that stands out to me!
- “You have to know what you stand for, not just what you stand against.” From Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. One of the most amazing books I’ve read and I think this quote is one that ‘speaks’ up so well. It’s ok to be against things…but you need to stand up for what you believe in. No matter what.
- “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” This one a lot of people will recognise as the opening line of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. I read this last year for university and loved it – it surprised me just how much I enjoyed it. I think this is one of the most interesting opening lines to a book – I immediately started to wonder about unhappy families and why they were unhappy and who they were. Anna Karenina got me interested in reading classics again.
- “Sometimes you make choices in life and sometimes choices make you.” From If I Stay, by Gayle Forman. Another instance in where I could include most of this book in my favourite quotes.
- “Children live in the same world we do. To kid ourselves that we can shelter them from it isn’t just naive it’s a vanity.” From We Need To Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver. I loved this book even as it made my skin crawl. I read it when I had a small child ( a son even!) and quite frankly the nature vs nurture argument freaked me the heck out…in a good way. It made me think. I need to read it again to further absorb it, but that’s a line that has always stood out for me.
- “Resolution number one: Obviously will lose twenty pounds. Number two: Always put last night’s panties in the laundry basket. Equally important, will find sensible boyfriend to go out with and not continue to form romantic attachments to any of the following: alcoholics, workaholics, commitment phobic’s, peeping toms, megalomaniacs, emotional fuckwits or perverts. And especially will not fantasize about a particular person who embodies all these things.” From Bridget Jones’ Diary, by Helen Fielding. Back when I was at University, I used to re-read a lot because I was on a pretty tight budget and if I went to a library, it was the campus one to check out political texts. And this was one of the books I probably re-read the most (and watched the movie!). I love it – it was my first choice whenever I needed a bit of a giggle.
- “People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.” From To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. I first read this when I was 15 and every year or 2 thereafter until a few years ago. It’s my book club read for this month and when I went to dig out my copy I discovered it was no where to be seen…so I had to buy another right away. I’d forgotten just how much I love this book.
- “You can close your eyes to the things you do not want to see, but you cannot close your heart to the things you do not want to feel.” From Forbidden, by Tabitha Suzuma. Sums up this book perfectly.
- “Once they know they’ve got a hold of your shame, they can shake it out and hold it up for the all world to see. And you become less than it. You become something disgusting. Tainted. Stained. Soiled.” From Raw Blue, by Kirsty Eagar. Love this book, it’s so raw and unfailingly honest. Carly’s pain is so real it slaps you in the face.
These are 10 quotes I pulled out that have stuck with me in some way or have for me, really conveyed what the book was trying to say, or what it said to me when I read it. My 10 favourite quotes could change every time I answered the question though!