Tag: books

I wrote a blog post talking about how I write down lines from books I’m reading. Here are some lines that I loved from books that I read in July:

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. — Mother Night

No one has mastered the art of life. Everyone is just stumbling in the dark. — Here

It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety. — Foundation

To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well. — Foundation

Memories sting when they come suddenly. — Foundation

I wrote a blog post talking about how I write down lines from books I’m reading. Here are some lines that I loved from books that I read in June:

She had studied the universe all her life, but had overlooked its clearest message: For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love. — Contact 

It’s in the code — there’s a method called clay_is_awesome. I assume every programmer writes one of those. — Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore

This sounds very interesting to me, but mostly because this girl is very interesting to me. — Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore

“They’re not magic. They’re only as capable as their programmers, right?” — Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore

The most vital things we hide even from ourselves. — Fortune Smiles

“Toucan cereal.” — Fortune Smiles

There are many challenges to long distance running, but one of the greatest is the question of where to put one’s house keys. — The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

“He knows she isn’t perfect. She knows he definitely isn’t perfect. They know there’s no such thing as perfect.” — The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

It strikes him that it is odd to have to use the thing that may not be working to consider the thing that isn’t working. — The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

In the end, we are collected works. — The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

I poured over the “Fiction & Poetry” section of The New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2015. Here are the ones that caught my fancy:

1. Fortune Smiles
2. The Beautiful Bureaucrat
3. Here
4. A Little Life 

(work and social engagements made it hard to post the past two days.)

I finished Immortality this afternoon on the bus ride back from work. I’m still trying to decide what I think of it. I will say that it is one of the most unique books I’ve read — the writing and narrative structure is very different, and honestly, not what I was expecting. Overall though, I still enjoyed it.

Next book — An Anthropologist on Mars.

I visited Powell’s Books today. It’s one of the largest and most well organized bookstores I’ve been to so far. I can easily see myself spending days here and never getting bored. And discovering something new and wonderful each time. Here’s what I bought today:

At the beginning of the year I published a post outlining what some of my goals for the year were. In the spirit of being transparent, here is the progress I made on them over the course of July –

1. 0 hours of volunteering.
2. A tiny bit of shyness. I think.
3. Finished the third chapter of the Rust book.
4. 3 books read — Galapagos (loved it), Breakfast of Champions (my least favorite Vonnegut book so far), and Batman: Arkham Asylum – A Serious House on Serious Earth (dark and disturbing. The art work is breathtaking).
5. One paper read (I failed at my goal to get this number up)
6. 3 posts in July.
7. 5 consecutive muscle ups! I was quite surprised by this number. And when I say “consecutive” what I really mean is “do one, then take a break for 45 seconds”.