The Poisonwood Bible

"According to my Baptist Sunday-school teachers, a child is denied entrance to heaven merely for being born in the Congo rather than, say, north Georgia, where she could attend church regularly. This was a sticking point in my own little lame march to salvation: admission to heaven is gained by the luck of the draw." -Adah Price

The Poisonwood Bible, pg. 171
By Barbara Kingsolver
Published 1998

A Wolf at the Table

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"I came to think that maybe God was what you believed in because you needed to feel you weren't alone. Maybe God was simply that part of yourself that was always there and always strong, even when you were not. And if I put everything in God's hands, wasn't that a cop-out?"

A Wolf at the Table, pg. 163
By Augusten Burroughs
Published 2008

Anthropology of an American Girl

Photo: JAK&JIL

"Sometimes a day is a symbolic day, and you behave symbolically. Sometimes you search inside for a feeling, and finding none, you remember that no feeling is frequently the most possible feeling."

Anthropology of an American Girl, pg. 260
By Hillary Thayer Hamann
Published 2010 (Self-published 2003)

Life of Pi

"What a terrible thing it is to botch a farewell. I am a person who believes in form, in the harmony of order. Where we can, we must give things a meaningful shape... It's important in life to conclude things properly. Only then can you let go. Otherwise you are left with words you should have said but never did, and your heart is heavy with remorse."

Life of Pi
By Yann Martel, p. 285
Published 2001

The Secret Life of Bees

"She said a scholarship was my only hope for a future and lent me her private books for the summer. Whenever I opened one, T. Ray said, 'Who do you think you are, Julius Shakespeare?' The man sincerely thought that was Shakespeare's first name, and if you think I should have corrected him, you are ignorant about the art of survival."

The Secret Life of Bees, pg. 16
By Sue Monk Kidd
Published 2002

The Book of Lost Things

"We all have our routines," he said softly. "But they must have a purpose and provide an outcome that we can see and take some comfort from, or else they have no use at all."

The Book of Lost Things, p. 94
By John Connolly
Published 2006