Quotables from The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Reading this was like falling in love. It made me want to be a better person.

"As for me, I implore fate to give me the opportunity to see beyond myself and truly meet someone." Renee, page 145

"Never in my life have I felt so at ease. How can I explain? For the first time, I feel utterly trusting, even though I am not alone. Even with Manuela, to whom I would gladly entrust my life, I do not have this feeling of absolute security that comes when one is sure that understanding is mutual. Entrusting one's life is not eh same as opening one's soul, and although I love Manuela like a sister, I cannot share with her the things that constitute the tiny portion of meaning and emotion that my incongruous existence has stolen from the universe." Renne, page 225. I love the sentiment of this whole passage but this, THIS is genius: "the tiny portion of meaning and emotion that my incongruous existence has stolen from the universe." That phrase is the essence of human individualism, aspiration, and meaning.

"What is both confusing and astounding about Kakuro Ozu is that he combines a sort of childish enthusiasm and candor with the attentiveness and kindliness of an old sage. I am not accustomed to such a relationship with the world; it seems to me that he views it with indulgence and curiosity, whereas the other human beings I know display either weariness and kindness (Manuela), ingenuity and kindness (Olympe) or arrogance and cruelty (eveyone else). Such a combination of eagerness, lucidity and magnanimity is delightfully unusual." Renee, page 228

"This pause in time, within tine... When did I first experience the exquisite sense of surrender that is possible only with another person? The peace of mind one experiences on one's own, one's certainty of self in the serenity of solitude, are nothing in comparison to the release and openness and fluency one shares with another, in close companionship... When did I first feel so blissfully relaxed in the presence of a man?" Renee, page 277 (THIS IS LOVE)

Andre Benjamin

Outkast's "sensitive half" is my celebrity pass. All Dre would have to do is ask.

What comes out when I try to write fiction

1: “You can’t base a story on a movie that was originally based on a story.”

2: “Unless the original story can be improved upon. Why else would they have made the movie? Think Devil Wears Prada. Awful book, great movie.”

1: “Not an awful book, just poorly written.”

2: “whoa. I think my socks were just knocked off. You’ve read it? And you liked it? That first whoa? Gonna have to repeat it.”

1: “As a pop culture specialist I have to be on top of my chick lit.”

2: “So you’re a pop culture specialist now? I feel like I don’t know you at all.”

1: “Sometimes I like to shop at Enigmas ‘R Us.”

2: “Seriously? Did you seriously just say that? Please please never ever do that again.”

1: “Don’t pretend like you didn’t like it.”

2: “No pretending here love. O, did you hear that? Love! I think she just decided that I’m British! British… I didn’t realize it but I was hoping I would be British. Though Brazilian would have be fun too.”

1: “Naw, Brazil’s too cool to be cool nowadays.”

2: “Yea, you’re right. Funny how a whole nation is suddenly trendy.”

1: “Yea. Remember when it was Jamaica? Whatever happened to that?”

2: “o yea. Hmm, this would be a good time for her to have us discuss afro-spiced Caribbean culture and it’s exoticification throughout the world.”

1: “Don’t get ahead of yourself there. That would move us towards themes of race, politics, globalization and God knows what else. We still don’t know if she’s basing us on a movie or a book or some recycled combination of both.”

2. “True.”

1. “So what do you think? Are we gonna be hackneyed?”

2. “Maybe? I don’t know. I do know that this dialogue’s not strong enough to stand without adjectives. What’s she doing?”

1. “Without adjectives? What do you mean?”

2. “You know the whole, ‘He said with a smirk’ or ‘She said with mock distress’. I don’t think we’re witty enough to do without them.”

1. “Speak for yourself. I for one thrive on stand-alone quotes. Also, as a pop culture specialist you should know that dialogue without adjectives equals hipness. And I’m willing to forgo wit for hipness any day.”

2. “Style over substance, eh? Typical.”

1. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

2. “Nothing, nothing.”

1. “Come on, tell me. I want to know what you were going to say.”

2. “But I don’t think I want to tell you.”

1. “Seriously? I hate it when people do that! Insinuate something about you and then refuse to complete the thought. I thought you were better than that.”

2. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

1. “See? She said with a smirk.”

"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough"

Spoken by the inimitable and inspirational Mae West. I love her for the quote above and for the ones that follow.



"All discarded lovers should be given a second chance, but with somebody else."

"Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly."

"Don't keep a man guessing too long - he's sure to find the answer somewhere else."

"Keep a diary and one day it will keep you."

"I believe that it's better to be looked over than it is to be overlooked."

"I'm no model lady. A model's just an imitation of the real thing."

"Look your best - who said love is blind?"

"Love isn't an emotion or an instinct - it's an art."

From Generosity: An Enhancement by Richard Powers

Memorable passages:

"I wish I could make out Stone's students better. I can see how they disturb him. But I just can't see them in any detail. They're hiding in the sullen, shine performance of youth." The narrator's attempt to describe the youth in the protagonist's creative writing class (page 7).

"From where I sit, the whole human race did something stupid when young-- pulled some playful stunt that damaged someone. The secret of survival is forgetting. If evolution favored conscience, everything with a backbone would have hanged itself from the ceiling fan eons ago, and invertebrates would once again be running the place." (page 19)

"As they talked, the counselor's words turned playful, to match the immigrant's. Something contagious about the Algerian. Her delight was irresistible: like being seven, and ten hours from turning eight. Like being eighteen, out on the highway when a tune with a hook like resurrection came on the radio for the first time. Like being twenty-nine, and having the doctor tell you that company is coming." On delight, (page 86). I like this for two reasons 1) My best friend often has a similar effect on people, one of the many reasons why I love her and 2) great use of simile here, each evocation of delight he employs would resonate strongly with almost anyone.

I'm sure there are many more in this book but I stopped noting the interesting passages pretty early on because I began doubting the author's perspective pretty early on. Towards the end of the book I came to believe in him again but by then it was too late to go back and re-mark things that might have been interesting to my re-engaged self.

Page numbers from the first hardcover edition, published in 2009 by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Link to Generosity's Powell's page: http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=1-9780374161149-0

Generation Y? Z?

I think young people are more poetically inclined, i think-- you see it on the internet, that they really want to connect. Connection is what being alive is, they want to feel seen and, they want to create a sense of themselves and intimacy with others. My advice to them would be exactly the same, it's just to educate yourself, figure out who you are. The other really strong thing that is really needed is you need to build up your enthusiasm so that it is higher than your fear.

~Jane Compton, director of Bright Star on poetry and how to be alive as youth in our day and in that of John Keats. Makes me want to see her new film

Swedish proverb

Love me when I least deserve because that is when I truly need it.