Books I Once Read

[books-i-once-read]

I thought I would need someone to find me bearable, but he thought I was wonderful!

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

[books-i-once-read]

The decision to try for beauty meant I could also fall fall short of it, which would be more painful than not trying at all. 

Where Are You Really From? By Elaine Hsieh Chou

[books-i-once-read]

I don’t really feel like anything these days, just a beautiful husk filled with opinions about globalism and a strong desire to go out for dinner.

Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly

[books-i-once-read]

What if it goes really well and we get married or have a civil union party in a non-denominational community hall and stay together forever? What if I have to reshape my future expectations to include this new person?

Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly

[books-i-once-read]

Some things are terribly reliable, like suffering. But despite the scourge of injustice and the regularity of misery, we have learned to sing.

Black In Blues by Imani Perry

[books-i-once-read]

You’re more digestible and commercially viable to the world when you’re in a couple. We fear a single woman. She’s powerful, self assured and independent. The world wants women who are insecure and self conscious because they’re easier to sell to.

Unattached: Essays on Singlehood edited by Angelica Malin

[books-i-once-read]

Why would a woman revise her priorities just because she’s been forced to observe the social mandate of bearing children?

Bliss Montage by Ling Ma

[books-i-once-read]

I experienced pleasure like a future pain.

Simple Passion by Annie Ernaux

[books-i-once-read]

How does he fill my whole life and I am only a sliver of his?

I’m a Fan by Sheena Patel

[books-i-once-read]

If he could only stop being exactly what he is, we could be happy.

I’m a Fan by Sheena Patel

[books-i-once-read]

I opened my mouth to tell him I love him, but the words stick to my insides like a frightened bird, clinging to the corners of a room. 

Better by Far by Hazel Hayes

[books-i-once-read]

This is the curse of being an only child of a flawed single parent. To be aware at all times that you’ll miss them when you’re gone, but be unable to fully enjoy them while they’re here. 

Better by Far by Hazel Hayes

[books-i-once-read]

The arts tell us what is possible, and what is not, because, among other things, they tell us who is human and who is not.

The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates

[books-i-once-read]

A political order is premised not just on who can vote but on what they can vote for.

The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates

[books-i-once-read]

I know that all readers do not come to a text equally. Some come surviving a rape, and some come caged in their assigned bodies, and some come having spent their entire young lives in classrooms with fellow students who made mascots of them. 

The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates

[books-i-once-read]

I am filled the sense of grandeur, the beauty of being part of something bigger, even if that something is rotten.

Role Play by Clara Drummond

[books-i-once-read]

I’m too insecure not to be superficial.

Role Play by Clara Drummond