What shall I read today? Part 3

On the Road, Jack Kerouac (1951)
A book is also special for the journey it represents, On the Road was a gift from my dad, while we were dreaming of doing a coast to coast trip in the US. Manifesto of the Beat Generation, jazz as constant soundtrack, friendship, goodbyes, love, adventure, and the stars above looking at them, this book has everything. I still haven't seen the cinematic adaptation, but I think that a book like this has too much to be enclosed in a two-hour film, it's a lifetime journey.

Favourite quotes:

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.”

“Live, travel, adventure, bless, and don't be sorry.”

“There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars.”

“What is that feeling when you're driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? - it's the too-huge world vaulting us, and it's good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.”

“A pain stabbed my heart, as it did every time I saw a girl I loved who was going the opposite direction in this too-big world.”

“I realized these were all the snapshots which our children would look at someday with wonder, thinking their parents had lived smooth, well-ordered lives and got up in the morning to walk proudly on the sidewalks of life, never dreaming the raggedy madness and riot of our actual lives, our actual night, the hell of it, the senseless emptiness.”

“I was surprised, as always, be how easy the act of leaving was, and how good it felt. The world was suddenly rich with possibility.”

“We turned at a dozen paces, for love is a duel, and looked at each other for the last time.”

“But why think about that when all the golden lands ahead of you and all kinds of unforseen events wait lurking to surprise you and make you glad you're alive to see?”

“My aunt once said that the world would never find peace until men fell at their women's feet and asked for forgiveness.”

“Sure baby, mañana. It was always mañana. For the next few weeks that was all I heard––mañana a lovely word and one that probably means heaven.”


Breakfast at Tiffany's, Truman Capote (1956)

This is one of the few books I read after watching the film. I think both are incredible, even if in different ways. Holly Golightly is probably one of the most well-rounded characters in literature. First of all, she stands out from the crowd, she's a heroine with loads of fears, she is independent, and New York city is the perfect setting for her life. Moreover, her character is probably the one who influenced the following generations of independent women in life, but also in TV series and films. Where do you think the inspiration for Sex and the City came from? And, remember, no place is like Tiffany's. 

Favourite quotes:
 
“Never love a wild thing, Mr. Bell,' Holly advised him. 'That was Doc's mistake. He was always lugging home wild things. A hawk with a hurt wing. One time it was a full-grown bobcat with a broken leg. But you can't give your heart to a wild thing: the more you do, the stronger they get. Until they're strong enough to run into the woods. Or fly into a tree. Then a taller tree. Then the sky. That's how you'll end up, Mr. Bell. If you let yourself love a wild thing. You'll end up looking at the sky."

“You call yourself a free spirit, a "wild thing," and you're terrified somebody's gonna stick you in a cage. Well baby, you're already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it's not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somali-land. It's wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.”

“I don't want to own anything until I find a place where me and things go together.”

“She was still hugging the cat. "Poor slob," she said, tickling his head, "poor slob without a name. It's a little inconvenient, his not having a name. But I haven't any right to give him one: he'll have to wait until he belongs to somebody. We just sort of took up by the river one day, we don't belong to each other: he's an independent, and so am I. I don't want to own anything until I know I've found the place where me and things belong together. I'm not quite sure where that is just yet. But I know what it's like." She smiled, and let the cat drop to the floor. "It's like Tiffany's," she said.

"It calms me down right away, the quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there, not with those kind men in their nice suits, and that lovely smell of silver and alligator wallets. If I could find a real-life place that made me feel like Tiffany's, then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name.”

“I loved her enough to forget myself, my self pitying despairs, and be content that something she thought happy was going to happen.”

“You can love somebody without it being like that. You keep them a stranger, a stranger who's a friend.”


Next "What shall I read today?":
In Cold Blood (Truman Capote) and Beautiful Losers (Leonard Cohen).