The 52 Book Club: 2025 Challenge discussion

We're starting off WEEK FOUR of our 2021 challenge! Share a quote from the book you read this week.

(Don't forget to tell us what prompt you put the book under!)

“He shall never know I love him: and that, not because he's handsome, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made out of, his and mine are the same.”

Prompt 15 - A book mentioned in another book

"Before saying anything, the shepherd smoothed the dirt beneath him with his worn boot. The soles were brown with the earth of the fields, and the tips were faded. Times had been tough of late, with King Henry demanding more and more of their crops and sheep every year. Things like boots, hope, and dirt were what the farmer held on to tight now."
From "Maleficent" adapted by Elizabeth Rudnick, based on the screenplay by Linda Woolverton. I'm probably going to use it for #30 - Watch out for dragons!

It was last night, but I posted the reviews today. I'll do a quote for another book that I actually read this week (well, one I finished at nearly 1 am, so it was technically today).

30. Watch Out For Dragons Dragon's Milk by Susan Fletcher January (it's in the title and Dragons are the subject)

44. Includes a garden The Resisters by Gish Jen January
One of the ways they resist being drugged/winnowed is by only eating food they grow in their garden (this could have been deckled edge)

"It's not time we seek in eternity. It's growth.".

Balcony of Fog by Rich Shapero.

Prompt: #27 First chapter ends on an odd page number.

26. An author of color The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera January

Witi Ihimaera is Maori (not sure how much, but at least half, and given his surname, I would say more since his European blood comes from his dad)

I finished The Girl He Used to Know (dual timeline) thus week. There were actually two quotes in the book by Eleanor Roosevelt: “ A woman is like a teabag: you never know how strong it is until it’s in hot water.” and “Do one thing everyday that scares you.” I love these especially the second one.

I finished 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak. I am not sure what category I will put it in yet as I normally start adding books to categories in August and then see what I am missing. The quotation I will choose relates to memory:

‘But human memory resembles a late-night reveller who has had a few too many drinks: hard as it tries, it just cannot follow a straight line.’

“The universe makes rather an indifferent parent, I'm afraid.”
― Charles Dickens, Bleak House

Prompt #2 Featuring the legal profession

Long, but a great book.... if you love Dickens (as I do) and don't mind a 1000 plus-page book

"If we must live -- and we must -- let it be with our fists in the air to remind people that we will speak up for what is right. We will always stand up against that which brings harm. We will demand what is just, not only for our own lives but for the lives that are impacted by injustice."

Woke: A Young Poet's Call to Justice by Mahogany L. Browne, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Olivia Gatwood for the prompt #24 - A Book You Think They Should Read In Schools

32. A character who is selfish Can I Get a Witness? by ReShonda Tate Billingsley January

Vanessa, one of the two POVs has been selfish by putting her career before everything and now her marriage is on the verge of divorce.

I had a great quote, and lost the page. (insert head banging emoji here!)

7. An author with only 1 published book The Humans by Matt Haig
Ari (a nephew on my husband's side) is the friend of the math professor

I know that some of you reading this are convinced humans are a myth, but I am here to state that they do actually exist.

Karin wrote: "7. An author with only 1 published book The Humans by Matt Haig
Ari (a nephew on my husband's side) is the friend of the math professor

I know that some of you read..."

Matt Haig has a load of other books published!

I'm reading two - or is it three - books right now - whatever is convenient at the time I can read.
A quote (or excerpt) from Catherine, Called Birdy - (from her diary) -
"18th Day of November, Feast of Saint Mawes, who can cure headaches, worms, and snakebite.
I have developed a rash on my body where the rough cloth rubs on my skin. I wanted to take a bath, thinking that the dirt on my skin made the rash worse, but the bathing tub has been turned upside down and is being used as an extra table in the kitchen and I cannot have it until spring, so I just spread goose grease on my rash. The dogs are following me everywhere."

prompt #42 - an epistolary

I just read Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn for 6. A character with the same name as a male family member. There's a character named James in this and I have a cousin named James.

"Every phrase had to be captured on paper or it wasn’t real, it slipped away. I’d see the words hanging in midair—Camille, pass the milk—and anxiety coiled up in me as they began to fade, like jet exhaust. Writing them down, though, I had them. No worries that they’d become extinct. I was a lingual conservationist."

Bad Girl wrote: "Karin wrote: "7. An author with only 1 published book The Humans by Matt Haig
Ari (a nephew on my husband's side) is the friend of the math professor

I know that so..."

Yes, and because he writes well I am hoping that there are others of his I like better than I did this one, which was only 3 stars for me (and not one of those I liked it, it was fun 3 stars, but it's well written, started off really well but was disappointed ones).

prompt #17, a character on the run

"You take yourself with you, wherever you go.
He pushed the thought into a mental closet. It was a thing he was good at. There was all sorts of stuff in that closet."
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

9. Set in a Mediterranean country Suckered by Gina LaManna January - set in Italy

no great quotes, plus it's kindle and I don't bother highlighting things when I use it.

17. A Character "on the run" The Sapphire Sea: A Gemstone Thriller by John B. Robinson January

25. A book with multiple character POV Crossing the Line by Simone Elkeles January

No good quotes in these as I didn't really like them.