Book Club Quotes

“One morning you wake up with more life behind you than in front of you, not being able to understand how it’s happened.”
― Fredrik Backman, Britt-Marie var här

“At a certain age almost all the questions a person asks him or herself are really just about one thing: how should you live your life?”
― Fredrik Backman, Britt-Marie Was Here

“If you can be heard then you exist.”
― Fredrik Backman, Britt-Marie var här

“Did you ... touch me right after you called me brat?"
He shakes his head.
"Why not?" I ask.
"You were too intoxicated to give your consent."
"And?"
He frowns. "If, while you were drugged, I had touched you like I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to call myself a real man.”
― Mya Robarts, The V Girl: A Coming of Age Story

“Because you live to love and love to live/ And because of what your heardrum will give/ Now we might love to live and live to love.”
― Janet Goodfriend, For the Love of Art

“It’s just the most amazing thing to see the introvert revolution literally remaking the way we organize society — this time, the world of book clubs.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“It takes courage to knowingly read a book that is challenging some of your cherished beliefs.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“For most people, what is so painful about reading is that you read something and you don’t have anybody to share it with. In part what the book club opens up is that people can read a book and then have someone else to talk about it with. Then they see that a book can lead to the pleasure of conversation, that the solitary act of reading can actually be a part of the path to communion and community”
― Bell Hooks

“He never had time to read on the outside, but here he joins a book club where they discuss The Great Gatsby and The Beautiful and Damned and Tender Is The Night with a fervent young professor who seems unaware that anyone other than F. Scott Fitzgerald has ever written a book.”
― Emily St. John Mandel, The Glass Hotel

“Visto che siamo al mondo, stiamo tutti morendo.”
― Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

“He swam against the hard current of the class bores - there were three - who could relate every incident in the book to something in their own lives.”
― Carol Anshaw

“I want to start a book club. But instead of reading books, we trash talk and drink wine.”
― Tanya Masse

“Russell’s lips were just framing an expression of disapproval when Grace stepped around Violet. His pupils expanded, making his dark eyes look even darker. There was something almost greedy in this look he bestowed on Grace.
--Farewell My Life: Buona Notte Vita Mia”
― Cynthia Sally Haggard, Farewell My Life: Buona Notte Vita Mia

“I wonder,” said Angelina, sitting on the loveseat next to Violet, “if he is mentally fragile.”
“What do you mean?” said Violet.
“He fought in the war,” replied Angelina. “He might fall apart, fly off the handle, go off the rails…”
― Cynthia Sally Haggard, Farewell My Life: Buona Notte Vita Mia

“Mr. Russell—this is awkward—Mother is not happy—She told me never to see you again.”
The force of his glare thrust her back on her heels.
--Farewell My Life, Buona Notte Vita Mia”
― Cynthia Sally Haggard, Farewell My Life: Buona Notte Vita Mia

“No truly intelligent person shows off the number of books they read in a week, month, or year.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“I had to Marie Kondo the book club. It did not spark joy.”
― Lisa Lin, The Year of Cecily

“Marx era un lettore prodigioso e Sadie gli sembrava quel genere di libro che si può leggere e rileggere molte volte, scoprendo sempre qualcosa di nuovo”
― Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

“They had read a fantastic book, a doorstop novel from India with colors and spices and music and poetry spilling out into the margins, a seven-course literary feast. After reading a brief biographical note about the author, they always went around the table. When it was Maya's turn, she was ready with yellow Post-its stuck in between the pages that held the paragraphs she wanted to read aloud. "I thought this book was like a tapestry," she'd begun, hearing her own voice sounding excited but focused. "Poetic and romantic descriptions of nature and art combined with a social message that's both brutal and-
provocative”
― Anne Østby, Pieces of Happiness

“What would happen if he returned and asked permission to be Grace’s suitor? Well, she would not stand for it. Per l’amor di Dio, for the love of God, Grace was only seventeen, and it was the height of rudeness to abandon the mother for the daughter. If he did return, she would see that he was sent away.
--Farewell My Life: Buona Notte Vita Mia”
― Cynthia Sally Haggard, Farewell My Life: Buona Notte Vita Mia

“He wasn’t quite what you’d hoped for, was he, Mother dear?” remarked Violet.
“I was trying to help you,” said Angelina, her cheeks warming.
Violet folded her arms and gave her a look.
“I’m never going to invite him again.” Angelina weaved unsteadily on her high heels as she made her way towards the stairs and the privacy of her dingy room.
“You won’t have to,” replied Violet. “He’ll be back.
--Farewell My Life: Buona Notte Vita Mia”
― Cynthia Sally Haggard, Farewell My Life: Buona Notte Vita Mia

“I intend to marry her,” he said, without turning around.
“Not if I have any say in it.”
“What makes you think she will listen to you? You have nothing to offer her. I have enough funds to provide for a wife and family. I could take her to Italy, to Venice. She could perform with the best musicians in the world.”
“You are not marrying her.”
“How are you going to stop me?”
“You will have to walk over my corpse.

--Farewell My Life, Buona Notte Vita Mia”
― Cynthia Sally Haggard, Farewell My Life: Buona Notte Vita Mia

“La corda che ti salva dall'inondazione può diventare un cappio attorno al collo.”
― Khaled Hosseini, And the Mountains Echoed

“The wife belongs to a book club. All they do is moan about their husbands. They never talk about the bloody books at all.”
― Elly Griffiths, The Crossing Places

“There are things known and things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.”
― Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception & Heaven and Hell

“She decimated humanity for her own chance at living it.”
― Jennifer Lauer, THE GIRL IN THE ZOO

“Leah had not realized until she sat down at the table with her book club friends that she'd been waiting all year for this moment. To reunite with women who understood and didn't judge her, and women whom she could call friends.”
― Rochelle Alers, The Beach House

“Sinking into fictional worlds or analyzing a memoir was a chance to step away from my day-to-day problems and just be.”
― Amelia Simone, Match Play

“...the women from my book club are there. Most importantly, though, they've been a refuge for my own thoughts and ideas. They've helped bolster me when I needed it, given me perspectives I hadn't considered, and valued my opinions.”
― Crystal J. Bell, The Lamplighter

“I feel the way I always feel in Book Club. The way I believe we all feel. Safe.”
― Monica Wood, How to Read a Book