Quotable Monday

I finished a reread by audio of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (read by the amazing Kate Burton) last week and as always, I was captivated  by the way Smith regards books and reading. One of my favorite quotes ever is from this book:

The library was a little old shabby place. Francie thought it was beautiful. The feeling she had about it was as good as the feeling she had about church. She pushed open the door and went in. She liked the combined smell of worn leather bindings, library paste, and freshly inked stamping pads better than she liked the smell of burning incense at mass.

This is another favorite:

“Dear God,” she prayed, “let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be gay; let me be sad. Let me be cold; let me be warm. Let me be hungry…have too much to eat. Let me be ragged or well dressed. Let me be sincere-be deceitful. Let me be truthful; let me be a liar. Let me be honorable and let me sin. Only let me be something every blessed minute. And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is every lost.”

After this new rereading, I think ATGiB has moved up on my all-time-favorites list. Watch out Princess Bride.