Rabbit Hole #42: Favorite Quotations

Two weeks ago, the wonderful Jo at Retired Book Nerd posted a video challenging people to list their two favorite book quotes of all time and why those spoke to the readers. As Jo mentions, one of the reasons we love books is because we love language and the way it can challenge us to view the world in new ways. (I'll link her original video here: A Word About Words.) One of the biggest challenges, however, is narrowing it down to only two!

So here are two (plus one) of my favorite quotations:

“I think us here to wonder, myself. To wonder. To ask. And that in wondering bout the big things and asking bout the big things, you learn about the little ones, almost by accident. But you never know nothing more about the big things than you start out with. The more I wonder, the more I love.”--The Color Purple by Alice Walker

         Wonder. Ask. Read. Listen. Love. The world would be a better place if we were all truly open to the world around us and willing to find out about things we don't know. It's hard to hate and discriminate when you know a person and can empathize with them. 

        

“... Why, it would really be being unselfish to go away and be happy for a little, because we would come back so much nicer.” --Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnin


Travel as much as you can: by yourself, with friends, with loved ones. See the world. Wonder, as Celie says. It can make all the difference.

       

Bonus: "Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open." --Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling

Some times children's books hold the most profound truths. If only we could remember them as we age.

Rabbit Hole #27: Top 10 (+2) Most Owned Authors

Once again, stealing an idea from the wonderful Jen Campbell, these are my top 10 most owned authors. Those of you who know me well will not be surprised by the top 3 at all.

Honorable Mention with 7 books each: (Interestingly, these are the only two men on this list.)

C. S. Lewis: Lewis is a bit of a cheat, since all 7 of his are the Chronicles of Narnia series, but since they are separate books...

F. Scott Fitzgerald: I love Fitzgerald and wish he had lived long enough to continue writing. I think the only thing I don't own right now is The Last Tycoon, which was the book he was working on when he died.

Tied with 8 books each (#10-8)
J. K. Rowling: Again, a bit of a cheat since seven are the Harry Potter books, but I also have her first adult novel The Casual Vacancy, which was okay, but not up to the level of the Potter books.

Margaret Atwood: I am just scratching the surface with Atwood. I love her dystopian novels,   especially The Handmaid's Tale and the MADDADDAM series, but I'm anxious to dive into her poetry and short stories soon.

Louise Erdrich: Her stories about life on the reservation in North Dakota and the interweaving narratives throughout her novels have kept me hooked since I first read Love Medicine. She has a new novel coming out in May, which I am very excited for. Like Atwood, she has poetry and short fiction out that I need to read, as well as children's fiction.

#7 with 9 books
Barbara Kingsolver: The Poisonwood Bible is one of my all-time favorite books. I also really love her nonfiction as well; her background in biology and ecology is fascinating.

#6 with 10 books
Toni Morrison: It's Toni Morrison. She's the godmother of modern literature. Enough said.

#5 with 12 books
A. S. Byatt: I fell in love with Byatt's writing when I read Possession. She blends historical fiction with literature with myth with a bit of magical realism...well, you get the point.

#4 with 13 books
Charlaine Harris: Once again, this is all one series. I loved the HBO series True Blood, and decided to read the Sookie Stackhouse books it was based on. These were fun and quick reads, good for getting out of reading slumps or days where you didn't want to have to think to hard about what you were reading.

#3 with 17 books
Virginia Woolf: I haven't read Woolf in a while, to be honest. I think I'm still on a bit of a hangover after writing my master's thesis on her. Her writing is frank, experimental, forward-thinking, and thought-provoking, and I've read almost everything she's written except her diaries, which is where I might head next.

#2 with 22 books
Alice Walker: I absolutely adore Alice Walker. It started, naturally, with The Color Purple, but I've devoured almost everything she's written--novels, poetry, essays, memoirs--the only thing I haven't read are her children's books. You are always forced to look at the world around you and your own beliefs when reading her books.

And, of course...

#1 with 29 books
Anne Rice: I fell in love with Rice in high school, and haven't looked back. For me, her knowledge of history weaving in and out of tales of witches, vampires, ghosts, and werewolves is the most intriguing part of her tales. I also love her two non-paranormal historical novels as well: Cry to Heaven and The Feast of All Saints.  


So there you have it, my top 10 (+2) most owned authors! (Hey, if the Big Ten can have 14 schools in it, I can have 12 in my top 10 list!)