I’m Glad It Was Dylan Who Laughed First. Once He Did I Felt Myself Unravel. I Giggled And He Giggled.

“Because without our language, we have lost ourselves. Who are we without our words?”

'Finnikin of the Rock' Lumatere Chronicles #1 by Melina Marchetta

...this is the way fate usually treats us, it's right there behind us, it has already reached out a hand to touch us on the shoulder while we're still muttering to ourselves, It's all over, that's it, who cares anyhow.”

'The Tale of the Unknown Island' by José Saramago

I howl. I howl at the roof like a hotted-up bomb doing donuts, full of screeches. I howl like an air-raid siren, my arms stretched out wide. Howls are like songs. They can’t be summoned; they just happen. They come from a place that I barely understand. And then something else climbs to the surface, something black and jagged, something from the deep. Imagine all your worst feelings surfacing. Imagine coughing up razor blades. Imagine not being able to stop the pain from coming out, and not knowing when it’s going to end.

'This is Shyness' by Leanne Hall 

“Yeah, my mom says that love is like music. One day you just – hear it.” “Whoa. First of all, I never said I loved Patrick. But I think I know what she means. I don’t think she means actual music, Bridge. She means that you know it when you feel it. Like music – you know it when you heart it.” “Okay, so love is also like a hamburger? You know it when you taste it?” Em laughed. “A hamburger is more deliberate. You have to make it, or ask for it. … Music just kind of breaks over you.”

Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead 

Just a reminder that Zadie Smith is cool and brilliant (as if anyone could forget!) I don’t remember where this photo is from (a gala? Oscars after-party?) that’s her husband Nick Laird to her left but it doesn’t really matter who anyone is ... that’s Zadie f’ing Smith in the middle and don’t you *ever* forget it!