The Saucy Wenches Book Club

She appeared to have jumped out of the frying pan of sexism and into the fire of ageism. The final frontier of isms. ~ Clare Pooley, How to Age Disgracefully

In winter, I want concepts to chew over in a pool of lamplight—slow, spiritual reading, a reinforcement of the soul. Winter is a time for libraries, the muffled quiet of bookstacks and the scent of old pages and dust. In winter, I can spend hours in silent pursuit of a half-understood concept or a detail of history. There is nowhere else to be, after all. ~ Katherine May, Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times

“The first rule is that you don’t fall in love,” he said ... “There are other rules too, but that is the main one. No falling in love. No staying in love. No daydreaming of love. If you stick to this you will just about be okay.” ~ Matt Haig, How To Stop Time

By now I’d read enough to know what irony meant but not what a devious bastard it is. ~ Leif Enger, I Cheerfully Refuse

When it was time to decide the official food of movie-watching, human beings did not go for Fig Newtons or caramel, foods that are silent, but popcorn, the loudest sound on Earth. ~ Marie-Helene Bertino, Beautyland

“To the ones who don’t run with the popular crowd, the ones who get caught reading under their desks, the ones who feel like they never get invited, included, or represented. Get your leathers. We have dragons to ride.” ~ Rebecca Yarros, Onyx Storm

But Christopher didn’t have the words, then, to explain what, nonetheless, he knew: that sometimes, if you are among the very lucky, a spark of understanding cuts like lightning across the space between two people. It’s a defibrillator for the heart. And it toughens you. It nourishes you. And the word we’ve chosen for it (which is an insufficient word for being so abruptly upended in a new and finer place) is friendship! ~ Katherine Rundell, Impossible Creatures

“Do you want to change this world, little serpent? Then climb your cage until you are so high no one can catch you. Break its bars and make them your weapons. Nothing is sharper. I know because I did it” ~ Carissa Broadbent, The Serpent & the Wings of Night

“Woman, I don’t care why you fuck me so long as you do. Go ahead, make me feel like second choice, second best. It’ll only make me work harder to prove you wrong. I like to win. And I’m good at it.” ~ Karen Marie Moning, The House at Watch Hill

“I am at the moment writing a lengthy indictment against our century. When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional cheese dip.” ~ John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces

“Confidence is silent. Insecurities are loud.” ~ T.J. Klune, Somewhere Beyond the Sea

“That is the problem with ignorance. You can never truly know the extent of what you are ignorant about.” ~ Adrian Tchaikovsky, Children of Time

“Don’t call her Sunshine,” he commanded. “Why not?” If Carrion’s plan was to poke the bear, then he sure as hell knew how to go about it. But Kingfisher didn’t respond to the taunting note in his question. He just cocked his head a little, nostrils flaring, and spoke in a low rumble. “Because she is moonlight. The mist that shrouds the mountains. The bite of electricity in the air before a storm. The smoke that rolls across a battlefield before the killing starts. You have no idea what she is. What she could be. You should call her Majesty.” ~ Callie Hart, Quicksilver

But that’s the thing about life: both your wildest dreams and your worst nightmares can come true. ~ Liane Moriarty, Here One Moment

I could see books in front of me. I had read them secretly, but this time, in this fever dream, I was able to read without fear of being discovered. I had wondered every time I sneaked in there what white people would do to a slave who had learned how to read. What would they do to a slave who had taught the other slaves to read? What would they do to a slave who knew what a hypotenuse was, what irony meant, how retribution was spelled? ~ Percival Everett, James

“You see? Ignorance is our enemy.” “No one is killed for witchcraft now.” “Ignorance changes over time. But it is always there, and it remains just as lethal.” ~ Matt Haig, How To Stop Time

“ Mature ? Good grief! I’m not a cheese. Or a herbaceous border.” ~ Clare Pooley, How to Age Disgracefully

“That’s the gift of winter: it’s irresistible. Change will happen in its wake, whether we like it or not. We can come out of it wearing a different coat.” ~ Katherine May, Wintering

“Even thinking about the approaching blank slate of a new year causes a twang of anticipation to thrum through her body. New day planner. New set of notebooks. New goals. New dreams. On New Year’s Day, anything feels possible.” ~ Julia McKay, The Holiday Honeymoon Switch