Books on the Wall posts featuring “Words Wednesday” book quote graphics. New graphics added every week, so be sure to check back often!
This Aravinda Adiga quote comes from his Man Booker Prize-winning novel, The White Tiger. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga Published in 2008, The White Tiger was the debut novel by Aravind Adiga. The story is told from the first-person perspective of Balram Halwai, a poor man from a rural village in India. Balram makes his way to Dhanbad and eventually New Delhi by working as a driver for a rich family involved in the dirty coal business. Slight spoiler alert: Balram kills his employer, steals his money, and becomes successful (while hiding) in the entrepreneurial hubbub of Bangalore. The novel […]
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Today’s Margaret Atwood quote comes from Moral Disorder, a book of connected short stories. Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood Published in 2006, Moral Disorder explores the lives and troubles of a Canadian family over six decades, especially the couple Nell and Tig. Most of the 11 short stories likely focus on Nell; seven are narrated as “I” and four are written from the third-person perspective of Nell. Although most readers assume that every story tells about Nell, the identity of characters isn’t often explicitly stated. The last two stories have been interpreted as autobiographical in nature, telling the story of Atwood caring for […]
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Although he lived a tragically short life, Oscar Wilde remains of the most beloved, and quotable, authors of all time. A quick search for Oscar Wilde quote turns up literally hundreds of results, each clever, funny, and horrifying in its own way. This particular quote comes Wilde’s play Lady Windermere’s Fan. Lady Windermere’s Fan by Oscar Wilde First produced in London in 1892, Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Play about a Good Woman is a four-act comedy that examines and satirizes the morals of English society. Like most of Wilde’s works, the play takes a playful, derisive tone toward the many […]
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Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi This quote comes from Yaa Gyasi’s debut novel Homegoing. Published 2016 to critical acclaim, Homegoing follows the lives of two half-sisters, Effia and Esi. Unknown to each other, the two sisters fall into divergent lives: one marries a European slaver, and one is captured and made a slave. The story bounces between the descendants of these two half-sisters, from the slave trade in Africa to the coal mines in Alabama and the NAACP. Each chapter follows a new character to give a detailed family history over nearly 250 years. Some characters are more complex and interesting […]
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This Ursula Le Guin quote comes from The Dispossessed: An Ambigious Utopia. The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin Published in 1974, The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia (frequently called just The Dispossessed) is an allegorical tale set in a dystopian future. Set in the same world as her earlier work The Left Hand of Darkness, this novel covers themes like capitalism, anarchy, freedom, and individualism. Upon publication, The Dispossessed won a handful of prestigious science fiction awards: Nebula Award for Best Novel (1974) Hugo Award (1975) Locus Award (1975) Nominee for John W. Campbell Memorial Award (1975) In fact, Le Guin is […]
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This Ernest Hemingway quote comes from his acclaimed short novel The Old Man and the Sea. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway Written in 1951 during a stay in the Bahamas, The Old Man and the Sea tells the story of an aging fisherman named Santiago and his quest to break his unlucky fishing streak by catching a large marlin. Santiago fights delirium and sharks in his attempt to wrangle the large marlin and bring it home. The Old Man and the Sea won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953. One year later, Hemingway was awarded the […]
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This Agatha Christie quote comes from her 1932 book, Peril at End House. Peril at End House by Agatha Christie Like most of Agatha Christie’s books, Peril at End House is a work of detective fiction. It was her fourteenth published novel under her own name. It is the sixth book to center on one of Christie’s most famous protagonists, Hercule Poirot, along with Inspector Japp and Arthur Hastings. In Peril at End House, Poirot is out to save his new young acquaintance Magdala “Nick” Buckley, who he is convinced is a target for murder. The name of the book comes from […]
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This Leo Tolstoy quote comes from “Three Methods Of Reform” in Pamphlets: Translated from the Russian (1900). A longer variant of the quote goes like this: There can be only one permanent revolution — a moral one; the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself. Although Tolstoy is perhaps most well known for his lengthy works of fiction, he was a prominent social and […]
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This Amy Tan quote is taken from her bestselling novel, The Joy Luck Club. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan Published in 1989, The Joy Luck Club focuses on the life experiences of four Chinese American families living in San Francisco in the mid 1900s. More specifically, the novel focuses on the complex relationships between three Chinese immigrant mothers and four American-born daughters. The novel reads like a collection of short stories; it plays off of the structure of a mahjong game and includes phrases about the game before each vignette. The Joy Luck Club was Amy Tan’s first […]
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Perfect for this time of year, this Anne of Green Gables quote captures our love of all things autumn. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery Published in 1908, Anne of Green Gables follows the life of young orphan girl Anne Shirley, who moves to a farm on Prince Edward Island. Although Anne was sent there mistakenly, the kind Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert take her in and agree to raise her. The title of the book comes from the name of the Cuthberts’ Avonlea farm, Green Gables. Since its publication, Anne of Green Gables has become one of the […]
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