The Saucy Wenches Book Club

“That’s all of life. All we can hope for. You mustn’t think about the fact that it might end, because then you live like a coward, you never love too much or sing too loudly. You have to take it for granted, the artist thinks, the whole thing: sunrises and slow Sunday mornings and water balloons and another person’s breath against your neck. That’s the only courageous thing a person can do.” ~ Fredrik Backman, My Friends

If civilization has an opposite, it is war. Of those two things, you have either one, or the other. Not both. ~ Ursula K Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness

All cats have an ancient knowledge; it’s dogs that are born with a blissfully clean slate. ~ Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

Action and argument together form an experiment, and nothing but constant experimentation will get us where we need to be. The system that contains us is not threatened by what we think of it. It is threatened by what we do about it. And the time for doing is always now. ~ Ray Nayler, Where the Axe Is Buried

“Those who know their faults are truly wise,” the Queen said. “And those who have endured the worst have most to teach. Do not say, then, that your story does not deserve retelling. Tell me, rather, how I might reward you for offering what you have learned.” ~ Allegra Goodman, Isola

“Humanity is awful, angry, and violent. But we are also magical and musical. We dance. We sing. We create. We live and laugh and rage and cry and despair and hope. We are a bundle of contradictions without rhyme or reason. And there is no one like us in all the universe.” ~ T.J. Klune, In the Lives of Puppets

Victor is a whole bucket of crazy in that velvet catsuit, but in the end, she has rules and she follows them all the way down into the mud. ~ Nick Harkaway, Titanium Noir

“So don’t feed the nightmares. Don’t let yourself panic. Don’t give the Capitol that. They’ve taken enough already.” ~ Suzanne Collins, Sunrise on the Reaping

“I tell myself not to count the years ahead in which she might never again come, but rather cherish the days she has given me of her own free will, when she lowered her species’ instinctive guard against humans, and shared the beauty and mystery of her presence in silent and graceful companionship. I will remember her leaving, but I will always know that before she did, she always, first, looked back.” ~ Chloe Dalton, Raising Hare

Listen, no one hikes two thousand miles because they’re happy. Even the most cheerful or uncomplaining hikers aren’t “happy.” You’ve got to have a significant fire under you to slog through over two thousand miles of jagged rocks, rain, and snakes. You’ve got to have a deep, unshakable point to prove. Everybody’s got a reason to hike the trail. It’s never because they are well loved and at peace. What was mine? Well, I suppose it was to heal. ~ Amity Gaige, Heartwood

“I wish to be the mother you are to me,” she said so softly Mabel doubted her own ears. But those were the words she spoke, and Mabel took them into her heart and held them there forever. ~ Eowyn Ivey, The Snow Child

“Love isn’t something you can cup in your hands, and I have to believe that means it’s something that can’t ever be lost.” ~ Emily Henry, Great Big Beautiful Life

“When you have so many other people doing things for you professionally and personally, you stop taking responsibility for any of it.” ~ Sarah Wynn-Williams, Careless People

“People’s capacity for turning dogmatic stupidity into political movements never ceased to amaze me. We’ve knocked off 99.9% of the human race and somehow the crazies still manage to survive. It just defies the odds.” ~ Dennis E. Taylor, We Are Legion (We Are Bob)

Life is too short to miss the lightning strike and too long to live it alone. ~ Rebecca Yarros, The Things We Leave Unfinished

“When you have everything, the only luxury left is taking things away from others.” ~ Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books