The Saucy Wenches Book Club

He had lived a sheltered life, but had read enough books to know that flagrantly eccentric characters often served as gatekeepers to danger. ~ Daniel Mason, Country People

Symbiosis and sustenance and unspeakable beauty and the sudden, savage violence of predation. This is the reef, home to five hundred million. This is the reef as I have known it. This is what I wanted any child of ours to know. ~ EJ Swift, The Coral Bones

“If you need something to worship, then worship life — all life, every last crawling bit of it! We’re all in this beauty together!” ~ Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah

“I’ll bathe in his contempt until I’m covered in every drop of his wrath.” ~ Leena Kazak, Between Tides & Thunder

“The beginning of a novel is like a first date. You hope that from the first lines an urgent magic will take hold, and you will sink into the story like a hot bath, giving yourself over entirely. But this hope is tempered by the expectation that, in reality, you are about to have to learn a bunch of people’s names and follow along politely like you are attending the baby shower of a woman you hardly know. And that’s fine, goodness knows you've fallen in love with books that didn’t grab you in the first paragraph. But that doesn’t stop you from wishing they would, from wishing they would come right up to you in the dark of your mind and kiss you on the throat.” ~ Rufi Thorpe, Margo’s Got Money Troubles

“Keep a place in your heart for things that are beautiful,” Pete would say to her. “Beauty’ll help you get through dark times.” ~ M.L. Stedman, A Far-Flung Life