22 Quotes by Stephanie Butland

there was a big old shocked space in my head where the thoughts ought to be

I don’t care if you don’t want to tell me things. But I do care that what we do tell each other is the truth.

The details were fed to me like bread soaked in milk given to a Victorian invalid. A little at a time. Gentle, soft. Like that made a difference.

Wouldn’t you be spooked? If you were in my position – oh, never mind, you wouldn’t be in my position.

It had been a heaven of a place to grow up: seagulls, beach, and nooks and crannies; the feeling, when the town was full of tourists, that you were lucky because this place was your home.

I suppose it’s the fact that these small memories come from the kind of tiny reminders that you simply can’t predict, and so can’t protect yourself from, and they catch you, paper cuts across the heart.

There’s the simple love of books, of course: the knowledge that here is an escape, a chance to learn, a place for your heart and mind to romp and play.

Ask the questions you want to ask. Seek out the people you want in your life. It might not be as hard as you think.

One thing I was realizing from seeing Rob was that, if you don’t talk about your past, and you work in a bookshop, then your topics of conversation are basically 1. Books I’ve read and liked and why. 2. Books I’ve read and not liked and why. 3. Books I want to read, but haven’t yet, and why. 4. Books I have decided not to read and why.