“I know there’s always a certain kind of reader who will be compelled to ask, But what really happened? The answer is simple: the lovers survive and flourish. As long as there is a single copy, a solitary typescript of my final draft, then my spontaneous, fortuitous sister and her medical prince survive to love.”

Torn apart by betrayal. Separated by war. Bound by love. | Atonement (2007)

best of 2011
{favorite books}

1. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
 + “So I’ll be popping along”, Crowley babbled. “See you guys ar- see you. Er. Great. Fine. Ciao.” As the Bentley skidded off into the darkness Ligur said, “Wossat mean?” “It’s Italian,” said Hastur. “I think it means ‘food.”

2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
+ “I offer you my hand, my heart, and a share of all my possessions. I ask you to pass through life at my side, to be my second self, and best earthly companion.” “Your bride stands between us.” He rose, and with a stride reached me. “My bride is here,” he said, again drawing me to him, “because my equal is here, and my likeness. Jane, will you marry me?”

3.  You Against Me by Jenny Downham
+ “It was strange how words meant something when they came out of your mouth. Inside your head they were safe and silent, but once they were outside, people grabbed hold of them.”

4. Atonement by Ian Mc Ewan
+ “His most sensual memories — their few minutes in the library, the kiss in Whitehall — was bleached colorless through overuse. He knew by heart certain passages from her letters, he had revisited their tussle with the vase by the fountain, he remembered the warmth from her arm at the dinner when the twins went missing. These memories sustained him, but not so easily. Too often they reminded him of where he was when he last summoned them.”

5. Škola Plivanja by Matko Marušić
- Pa što ću s pričama? - pitam smušeno.
 - Što mene pitaš? Eno ti pun grad svijeta pa ih daji kome hoćeš. Možda tko i pročita, ima svakakvih ljudi.
 Najprije se zgražam, a onda zaključujem da to i nije posve besmisleno. Čovjek stvarno nikad ne zna gdje će ga snaći nevolja, a gdje valjan savjet.

 6. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
“And while I was talking, the idea of actually losing Peeta hit me again and I realized how much I don’t want him to die. And it’s not about the sponsors. And it’s not about what will happen when we get home. And it’s not just that I don’t want to be alone. It’s him. I do not want to lose the boy with the bread.”

7. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
+ “Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.” 

8. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
+ “How can you sit there, calmly eating muffins when we are in this horrible trouble, I can’t make out. You seem to me to be perfectly heartless.”“Well, I can’t eat muffins in an agitated manner. The butter would probably get on my cuffs. One should always eat muffins quite calmly. It is the only way to eat them.” “I say it’s perfectly heartless your eating muffins at all, under the circumstances.”