Welcome 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!
Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell
(published 2008)
I was feeling a little uninspired regarding this week’s Thursday Quotables post, not because I’m not reading good books, but just because no particular quotes or passages have really jumped out at me in the last few days.
So pardon my break from the usual, but for this week, I thought I’d revisit an old favorite. Mary Doria Russell writes incredibly beautiful and thought-provoking books, whether the subject matter is Jesuits in space (I kid you not) or the larger-than-life historical figures of the Old West. Dreamers of the Day was published in 2008, but I didn’t read it until 2013. It’s a wonderful book set in Egypt after World War I, featuring a lonely midwestern spinster who ends up rubbing shoulders with the political luminaries of the time, including T. E. Lawrence and Winston Churchill.
The book is full of amazing insights, but for some reason, as I was skimming through my newsfeed this week, this book came particularly to mind. There are so many wonderful snippets, but I think I’ll just share this simple closing sentiment, so relevant today (and always):
When it comes down to it, I don’t have much in the way of advice to offer you, but here it is:
Read to children.
Vote.
And never buy anything from a man who’s selling fear.
I really can’t say enough wonderful things about this book. Check out my review from 2013 here, if you want to know more. (And really, read the book!)
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!
- Add your Thursday Quotables post link in the comments section below… and I’d love it if you’d leave a comment about my quote for this week too.
- Be sure to visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables, and have fun!
Bookshelf Fantasies 
Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres. This book has a different setting than many books from this genre and it sounds very good!
It’s very unusual.I learned a lot, and found the writing so lovely.
That’s a really fantastic quote!
Pretty relevant these days!
I hadn’t heard of that book, but I’ll be sure to check it out! I really agree with the part about reading to children! I know I always loved it when I was a kid!
Here’s my TQ: http://moasbookshelfadventures.blogspot.se/2017/02/thursday-quotables-stalking-jack-ripper.html?m=1
I read to both of my kids way past the age when they could read to themselves. We enjoyed so many great books together!
I was fine with this book till the screed at the end. That just lost me. Good post tough–don’t worry.
Ha, takes all views!