WRAP-UP | July 2017

July ends today, which means it’s time for a wrap-up! I’ve shared my reads for the month, along with a favorite quote from each, below!

 

 

 

“‘This world is unforgiving and cruel to those it judges as even the slightest bit outside the norm. If anyone should be kind, understanding, accepting, loving to their fellow outcasts, it’s you. All of you. You are the guardians of the secrets of the universe, beloved of worlds that most will never dream of, much less see . . . can’t you see where you owe it to yourselves to be kind? To care for one another?'”

 

 

 

 

“‘I cannot speak for every girl, but most people’s eyes are drawn to other things. Many want power.’ Nigel drew a finger, inked with a dagger, over the dragon on his abdomen. ‘Others want pleasure.’ He ran a hand over the wild circus on his thighs, along with a few more tattoos. ‘Your eyes passed over all these.'”

 

 

 

 

 

“‘Birch please’ happened while driving past some birch trees on the way to my daughter’s school. ‘Oh My Cod’ was scrawled on a receipt for fish tacos. I keep a running list on my nightstand and have been known to shake my husband awake and excitedly whisper stuff like, ‘MAUL about that! With a BEAR! Get it?’ One of the funniest ideas, however, came via text message from my sister-in-law. She is an elementary school teacher. It simply read, ‘For Fox Sake.'”

 

 

“Lawyers claim Shakespeare was a lawyer, doctors think he was medically trained, actors assume he was a thespian, soldiers, sailors, and astronomers all claim a kindred spirit. So it should be no surprise that knowledgeable gardeners think the Bard’s extensive use of botanical references would qualify him as a Master Gardener.”

 

 

 

 

 

“Ode to a hot dog

With bug juice and tater chips

I got nothing, man

 

I was not in the mood to celebrate. Especially sitting at a picnic table eating mortal food. With mortals.”

 

 

 

“For the artist within me, sharks represent an endless well of inspiration, a seductive blend of grace and power that lures me into the sea time after time.”

 

 

 

 

 

“when i die

do not

waste

a minute

mourning me.

i may go,

but i will

leave behind

all my

thousand & one

lives.

– a bookmad girl never dies.”

 

 

“Of all my times with the wolf, some much more action packed and dramatic, this is the one that keeps coming back. One warm April afternoon, Romeo, Gus, and I dozed together out on the ice near the river mouth, me with my head on my pack, skis off; Gus with his head on my thigh; Romeo with his muzzle resting between his outstretched front paws. It was one of those still days when you could hear snowdrifts collapsing in hisses, the sun so dazzling off the white-crusted ice that we seemed suspended on a cloud, bathed in light radiating from below. Now and then the wolf would split open an eye to check around, then settle back for another short snooze, and I’d do the same. Maybe twenty feet separated us, but in trusting enough to shut his eyes and sleep with me so near, he might as well have put his head alongside Gus’s on my leg. There we lay, three different species bound by a complex, often bitter history, taking simple comfort in the others’ presence, the sun’s warmth, and the passing of another winter. That afternoon remains with me, one of those clear, still moments that grace the edge of dreams.”

 

Want a review of any of my July 2017 reads? Let me know in the comments!