‘Hey,’ said Isabel, ‘you shouldn’t let their relationship, shallow and superficial as it may be, become emblematic of a patriarchal society which favours the younger woman and starts looking to cast you on to the scrap heap as you near the end of your childbearing potential.’
‘Oh God,’ said Alice, ‘you do say the nicest things.’
Landfall by Helen Gordon
Epitaph
When I die
Give what’s left of me away
To children
And old men that wait to die.
And if you need to cry,
Cry for your brother
Walking the street beside you.
And when you need me,
Put your arms
Around anyone
And give them
What you need to give to me.
I want to leave you something,
Something better
Than words
Or sounds.
Look for me
In the people I’ve known
Or loved,
And if you cannot give me away,
At least let me live on your eyes
And not on your mind.
You can love me most
By letting
Hands touch hands,
By letting
Bodies touch bodies,
And by letting go
Of children
That need to be free.
Love doesn’t die,
People do.
So, when all that’s left of me
Is love,
Give me away.
- Merritt Malloy
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
[feel ghastly tonight. very empty.]
Super Sad True Love Story
by Gary Shteyngart
“There’s nothing wrong with her except she’s completely fucked up”— always stood out for me but then again I’m very girl, interrupted about standout quotations in novels. & there’s such finality/permanence in the words “fucked up” and that’s what it feels like.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The universe’s campaign for the words “damnit Zusak!” to be my first tattoo continues.
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
genius writer
