The Saucy Wenches Book Club

A firstfoot was to bring gifts to the house: an egg, a faggot of wood, a bit of salt — and a bit of whisky, thus insuring that the household would not lack for the necessities during the coming year. ~ Diana Gabaldon, The Fiery Cross

>>>Good morning, Max. >>>Hello, Riley. >>>What have you done since our last session? >>>Max has read 895,013 books. Wow. That’s in one week.... >>>Any favorites? >>> The Count of Monte Cristo . >>>Is that out of this latest group or every book you’ve read so far? >>>All. >>>And how many is that? >>>201,773,124. >>>Jesus. Should I be worried? >>>About? >>>Out of two hundred million books, your favorite so far is a revenge story about someone who was wrongfully imprisoned. ~ Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“Beautiful means ‘full of beauty.’ Beautiful is not about how you look on the outside, beautiful is about what you’re made of. Beautiful people spend time discovering what their idea of beauty on this earth is. They know themselves well enough to know what they love, and they love themselves enough to fill up with a little of their particular kind of beauty each day.” ~ Glennon Doyle Melton, Love Warrior

“You must know monsters well, wolf girl.” “I’ve never met one in the wild. They don’t live there.” ~ Charlotte McConaghy, Once There Were Wolves

Making a proper Christmas for Brianna every year had been wonderful; I’d felt as though the festivity was for me, as well — the joy of doing things I’d read or heard about, but never done or seen. Frank, the only one of us who had truly experienced the traditional British Christmas, was the authority on menus, gift wrapping, carol singing, and other arcane lore. From the decorating of the tree until it came down after New Year’s, the house was full of excited secrets, with an underlying sense of peace. To have that in our new house, with everyone together... ~ Diana Gabaldon, Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone

Not all worth knowing can be found between the covers of compendiums, my boy. Let’s simply say that my academy was the thoroughfare, my primer experience, and my instructor the fickle finger of fate. ~ Amor Towles, The Lincoln Highway

“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” ~ Isaac Asimov, Foundation

“There’s a special phenomenology to walking in woods in winter.” ~ Helen Macdonald, Vesper Flights

“Jamie,” I said, a few moments later, raising my head. “What color is my hair?” This was an absurd question; it was the depth of the night and we were standing in a pitch-black forest. But he made a small noise of appraisal and lifted my chin to look. “All the colors o’ the earth,” he said, and smoothed the hair from my face. “But here, all about your face—it’s the color of moonlight, mo ghràidh.” ~ Diana Gabaldon, Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone

But a life without art, without wonder, without beautiful things—she would go mad. She has gone mad. What she needs are stories. Stories are a way to preserve one’s self. To be remembered. And to forget. Stories come in so many forms: in charcoal, and in song, in paintings, poems, films. And books. ~ V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

“A man who overestimates his intelligence is a man who can be easily manipulated.” ~ Rachel Hawkins, The Wife Upstairs

“Autumn leaves don't fall, they fly. They take their time and wander on this their only chance to soar.” ~ Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing

“It’s a shame about your book,” Ned said to Cecilia as they drove from the woods into the sumptuous golden glory of sunset over East Devon. “I don’t think stuffing its pages down the throat of that brigand chief was likely to make him more eloquent.” “One can only try,” Cecilia replied. “Besides, it was just Wordsworth.” “Ah, no great loss, then. Although I should give the man some credit, he did compose the beautiful line ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud.’” “Unless you believe the rumor that he actually wrote ‘lonely as a cow’ and his sister made him change it.” ~ India Holton, The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels

“I arrived in Paris on the eve of war in order to put books into the hands of readers,” Helen said, “and I’m not about to stop now.” “I’ll carry the entire contents of the Library to subscribers,” said Peter. “We won’t let readers become isolated,” Miss Wedd insisted. “I’ll take them books. And scones, too, if I can scrape up enough flour.” “Delivering books will be our way of resisting.” ~ Janet Skeslien Charles, The Paris Library

“I think she’s nice,” I say. “Nice?” My mother looks as though she’s just swallowed an olive pit. “Why is that bad?” I ask. “Nice is the enemy of interesting.” ~ Miranda Cowley Heller, The Paper Palace

“Sometimes the things we think are lost are only hidden, waiting to be rediscovered.” ~ Anthony Doerr, Cloud Cuckoo Land

“I like it when ye scream, Sassenach,” he murmured a little later, pausing for breath. “There are children downstairs!” I hissed, fingers buried in his hair. “Well, try to sound like a catamount, then…” ~ Diana Gabaldon, Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone

“The moment my lips touch yours, it will be your first kiss. Because if you’ve never felt anything when someone’s kissed you, then no one’s ever really kissed you. Not the way I plan on kissing you.” ~ Colleen Hoover, Hopeless

“I thought to myself that there are surely a lot of big things in America. The Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty are big. The Mississippi River and the Grand Canyon are big. The skies over the prairie are big. But there is nothing bigger than a man’s opinion of himself.” ~ Amor Towles, The Lincoln Highway

She felt that she had so many of the things she had ever wanted. And so she let them go, the things she did not have. ~ Taylor Jenkins Reid, Malibu Rising

“At night, the human world looks as though it’s full of fallen stars.” ~ Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

Source: Starz Entertainment, LLC “The world and each day in it is a gift, mo chridhe — no matter what tomorrow may be.” ~ Diana Gabaldon, The Fiery Cross

“I just figured you might want to make an exception for these particular feelings, bothersome though they may be, because they’re about you.” Angrboda stared at him, he stared back at her and, for once, he seemed to be absolutely serious. “What? I care for you as well,” he said, “as much as I hate to admit it. Caring about things makes life for complicated doesn’t it. Best not to care about anything at all in my opinion. And then you came along. I find it quite bothersome indeed.” ~ Genevieve Gornichec, The Witch’s Heart

“The deeper we each read, the more we would understand about this world.” ~ The Personal Librarian , Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

“So now it’s space and time,” he said. “You ever watch Doctor Who on PBS?” “All the time,” she said dryly, “on the BBC. And don’t think I wouldn’t sell my soul for a TARDIS.” ~ Diana Gabaldon, Written in My Own Heart’s Blood

“How had I only just learned that happiness and fulfillment were entirely distinct things?” ~ Sarah Penner, The Lost Apothecary

“But you followed me here.” My own voice is a whisper. “What a foolish thing for a pious prince to do.” A breath comes out of him. “You’ve made me a fool many times over.” ~ Ava Reid, The Wolf and the Woodsman

But books, like people, die. They die in fires or floods or in the mouths of worms or at the whims of tyrants. If they are not safeguarded, they go out of the world. And when a book goes out of the world, the memory dies a second death. ~ Anthony Doerr, Cloud Cuckoo Land

“Don’t leave me, Claire,” Jamie whispered, very close to my ear. “This time, I’ll beg. Dinna go from me, please.” I could feel the warmth of his face, see the glow of his breath on my cheek, though my eyes were closed. “I won’t,” I said — or thought I said — and went. My last clear thought was that I’d forgotten to tell him not to marry a fool. ~ Diana Gabaldon, Written in My Own Heart’s Blood

“In the future... if by some miracle you ever find yourself in the position to fall in love again... fall in love with me.” ~ Colleen Hoover, It Ends with Us

“We are so brief. A one-day dandelion. A seedpod skittering across the ice. We are a feather falling from the wing of a bird. I don’t know why it is given to us to be so mortal and to feel so much. It is a cruel trick, and glorious.” ~ Louise Erdrich, Future Home of the Living God

“I don’t do my job to catch the bad guys. Why would I want to do that? No, I do my job to make order out of chaos.” ~ Jeff Lindsay, Darkly Dreaming Dexter

“There’s a very good chance the sample in that cylinder is an alien life-form. We’re not taking any chances.” “Wait...you’re not taking any chances. But I am!” “It’s not like that.” “How is it not like that?” She paused. “Okay, it’s exactly like that.” ~ Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary

Books and ideas are like blood; they need to circulate, and they keep us alive. ~ Janet Skeslien Charles, The Paris Library

You must be meticulous about the thoughts you send out into the universe. It’s listening. Argue for your limits and, sure enough, they’re yours. You have to argue for your dreams. ~ Karen Marie Moning, Kingdom of Shadow and Light

It wasn’t a bother at all, the old gent replied, gesturing toward his bed. I was only reading. Ah, I thought, seeing the corner of the book poking out from the folds of his sheets. I should have known. The poor old chap, he suffers from the most dangerous addiction of all. ~ Amor Towles, The Lincoln Highway

“...but Sassenach — I am the true home of your heart, and I know that.” He lifted my hands to his mouth and kissed my upturned palms, one and then the other, his breath warm and his beard-stubble soft on my fingers. “I have loved others, and I do love many, Sassenach — but you alone hold all my heart, whole in your hands,” he said softly. “And you know that.” ~ Diana Gabaldon, Written in My Own Heart’s Blood

Bad magic, Kell had called it. No, thought Lila now. Clever magic. And clever was more dangerous than bad any day of the week. ~ V.E. Schwab, A Darker Shade of Magic

“You see only flaws and faults, weaknesses to be exploited. But humans are messy, Luc. That is the wonder of them. They live and love and make mistakes, and they feel so much.” ~ V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

“Reading isn’t the only thing in the world, Nina.” “It’s one of only five perfect things in the world.” “And the other four are?” “Cats, dogs, Honeycrisp apples, and coffee.” “Nothing else?” “Sure, there are other things, even good things, but those five are perfect.” “In your opinion.” “Yes, of course in my opinion. Everyone has a different five perfect things.” Polly thought about it. “I can get behind that. Mine would be movies, steak frites, Jude Law in his thirties, clean sheets at night, and indoor plumbing.” ~ Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“You’re it for me. Good days or bad, sleep or no sleep, cuddle slut or pouting on the other end of the couch. It’s you and me forever.” ~ Ivy Asher, The Bound Witch

“The mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.” ~ Frank Herbert, Dune

There is nothing so enigmatic as the human will — or so the headshrinkers would have you believe.... But it’s really not so complicated. If you want to understand a man’s motivations, all you have to do is ask him: What would you do with fifty thousand dollars? ~ Amor Towles, The Lincoln Highway

“I was tired, it was late, I was sitting half-asleep in the back of a taxi, remembering strangely that wherever I go, you are with me, and so is he, and that as long as you both live the world will be beautiful to me.” ~ Sally Rooney, Beautiful World, Where Are You

Marie thinks, truly, she does not believe she could live here in this bitter sodden place without at least the consolation of bacon. ~ Lauren Groff, Matrix

“Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right!” ~ Isaac Asimov, Foundation

Too much self-sufficiency was sort of mean to the people who loved you, Kit thought. You robbed them of how good it feels to give, of their sense of value. ~ Taylor Jenkins Reid, Malibu Rising

“If you’ve been given a gift, there’s a reason. The magick goes where it’s best used.” ~ Barbara Davis, The Last of the Moon Girls

“People are messy, and love can be ugly. I’m inclined to always err on the side of compassion.” ~ Taylor Jenkins Reid,  The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

But she hadn’t been able to take root. She’d remembered the wrong things, and forgotten too much. She’d remembered how to kill and how to hate, and she’d forgotten how to grow. ~ Naomi Novik, Uprooted