The Saucy Wenches Book Club

Come All Hallows’ Eve, the walls would stand or fall. Weirdly, I’d begun looking forward to Halloween, because at least my waiting would be over. Limbo would end. I’d know what I had to deal with. I’d know exactly how good or bad things were going to be. I’d know if I could be relieved — a year would buy me plenty of time to figure out what to do — or if I should be terrified. Either way, I’d have concretes. Faefever ~~Karen Marie Moning 

I was reminded that humans have to read books. And that takes time. Lots of time. A human can’t just swallow every book going, can’t chew different tomes simultaneously, or gulp down near-infinite knowledge in a matter of seconds. They can’t just pop a word capsule in their mouth like we can ... No wonder they were a species of primitives. By the time they have read enough books to actually reach a state of knowledge where they can do anything with it, they are dead. ~ Matt Haig, The Humans

“We humans have this wonderful intelligence. We should use this intelligence to increase the world’s happiness, to create peace, to bring greater compassion to society — sometimes I feel that’s our destination. To try to make a contribution to developing a compassionate society.” ~ Andri Snær Magnason, On Time and Water

Raihn. He was on his knees, staring up at me. And that—the way he looked at me—was the first thing that felt real. Real, and raw, and… and confusing. Because he looked at me in sheer awe—like I was the most incredible thing he had ever seen. Like I was a fucking goddess. ~ Carissa Broadbent, The Serpent & the Wings of Night

Far more discoveries, a colleague once noted, start with a “Huh, that’s weird,” than with a light-bulb moment. ~ Joe Roman, Eat, Poop, Die: How Animals Make Our World

I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers ~ Carley Fortune, This Summer Will Be Different

Some deem stillness and dancing opposites. They are two sides of the same coin, and that coin is the currency of life. You must learn how to be still. You must remember the dance. Then, to do more than exist—to truly live—you must learn how to do both at the same time. ~ Karen Marie Moning, The House at Watch Hill

“It feels like a new word needs to be created to encompass the last two hours spent in my bedroom. Like, I don’t know…mind-blowingly…unbecredifabulous.” ~ Freida McFadden, The Boyfriend

Charisma does not originate inside the person called “charismatic.” It comes from the need of others to believe that special people exist. ~ Rachel Kushner, Creation Lake

“I’m afraid I have not gotten over my resentment of him for saving me from the snow king’s court in Ljosland earlier this year, and have made a solemn vow to myself that I shall be the one to rescue him from whatever faerie trouble we next find ourselves in. Yes, I realize this is illogical, given that it requires Wendell to end up in some dire circumstance, which would ideally best be avoided, but there it is. I’m quite determined.” ~ Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands

Play was evolution’s way of building brains, and any creature with a brain as developed as a giant oceanic manta sure used it. If you want to make something smarter, teach it to play. ~ Richard Powers, Playground

“I’m not kidding, Cal, you need cases with a better class of suspect. These two are ... Like if I would villain — which I would not, because I am quite law-abiding, but if I would — I would not villain with these guys with someone else’s dick.” ~ Nick Harkaway, Titanium Noir

“All reading, in short, is telepathy and all reading is time travel. It connects us to everyone and everywhere and every time and every imagined dream.” ~ Matt Haig, The Life Impossible

“But we tried sane, Brad. Sane ain’t working for us anymore. It’s time to try crazy. That’s what we do out here.” ~ Dave Barry, Swamp Story

“But I believe the greatest weapon we have at our disposal is our voices. And I am going to use my voice for you, and for me. Hate is loud. We are louder.” ~ T.J. Klune, Somewhere Beyond the Sea

The kind of edge I looked for—this man had in spades. His edges had edges. There was a kind of ... were I fanciful, I’d say an aura that surrounded him, silvery and seductive and stitched somehow of both luminosity and utter absence of light, as if he wore a full moon’s brilliance purled to midnight as a cloak. ~ Karen Marie Moning, The House at Watch Hill

She had wanted to lower the blinds halfway and open the windows halfway and point all the fans in the house in her direction and lie on the sofa, only rising to prepare herself elaborate snacks. And she wanted to read: reading was the main thing. ~ Liz Moore, The God of the Woods

But a thing grows teeth once it’s put into words. ~ Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead

Things might get very bad, things might be worse than she ever imagined, but the stars existed, and that was something. ~ Amanda Coplin, The Orchardist