Welcome back to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week.  Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Andrew McCall Smith

I just finished listening to the audiobook version of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, and this passage really stood out for me, especially as read by the wonderful narrator:

He looked at her in the darkness, at this woman who was everything to him — mother, Africa, wisdom, understanding, good things to eat, pumpkins, chicken, the smell of sweet cattle breath, the white sky across the endless, endless bush, and the giraffe that cried, giving its tears for women to daub on their baskets; O Botswana, my country, my place.

What lines made you laugh, cry, or gasp this week? Do tell!

If you’d like to participate in Thursday Quotables, it’s really simple:

• Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
• Leave your link in the comments — or, if you have a quote to share but not a blog post, you can leave your quote in the comments too!
• Visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables, and have fun!