Quotes from Dr. Franklin's Island

Ann Halam ·  272 pages

Rating: (2K votes)


“The plane blew up.”
“I wonder what happened to all the other people?”
As soon as I’d spoken, I wished I hadn’t said that. I decided shy people shouldn’t try to make conversation, not even in an emergency. If I manage to talk to strangers at all, nervousness always makes me say the wrong thing.”
― Ann Halam, quote from Dr. Franklin's Island


“But I suppose I’m a typical nerd, good at the details, not very smart at seeing the larger picture. I’d gone in for the competition because I liked my science teacher, and it had been like doing any interesting piece of homework. I had not thought it through. I had never sat myself down and said to myself, hold on, Semirah, what if you win? You are shy. How are you going to survive for three weeks surrounded by total strangers?”
― Ann Halam, quote from Dr. Franklin's Island


“I walked all the way around the zoo, and then came back to a girl with a round face and fluffy hair, who looked like a baby owl. I like owls. I was about to say hello when along came Very Cool Girl, with her beautiful hair swinging. She smiled at me, and so did the baby owl. But oh no…My throat closed up. I simply could not speak. I can’t talk to strangers! I swerved off, and pretended I’d been headed for a nearby drinks machine.”
― Ann Halam, quote from Dr. Franklin's Island


“I’d given up on the animal identities, so I didn’t try to think of one; but I decided I’d sit down, not next to him but a couple of seats away, to drink my can of Coke. I would try to look casually inviting, and maybe we could strike up a conversation. I sat down, giving a sigh that might have been a sort of noncommittal half-hello. He looked up from the game he was playing on his GameBoy and stared at me, narrow-eyed. His expression said very clearly, I’ve got your number, Unpopular Girl. Stay away from me.
― Ann Halam, quote from Dr. Franklin's Island


“Good morning,” I said awkwardly.
Being shipwrecked doesn’t make shyness any easier.”
― Ann Halam, quote from Dr. Franklin's Island



“We came across a rucksack, wedged in among the coral. It was fastened up, but it seemed to have been invaded by some weird fluffy white sea creature that was trying to get out.
“What’s that?” said Arnie, poking it.
Miranda and I took a second look, and started to giggle. “It’s tampons,” I said. “Expanding widthways when wet—”
“Yecch!”
― Ann Halam, quote from Dr. Franklin's Island


About the author

Popular quotes

“You have heard on the radio or television or in the movies the words “lights, camera, action.”
― Les Giblin, quote from How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing with People


“L’obscurité submergeait tout, il n’y avait aucun espoir d’en traverser les ombres, mais on en atteignait la réalité dans une relation dont l’intimité était bouleversante. Sa première observation fut qu’il pouvait encore se servir de son corps, en particulier de ses yeux ; ce n’était pas qu’il vit quelque chose, mais ce qu’il regardait, à la longue le mettait en rapport avec une masse nocturne qu’il percevait vaguement comme étant lui-même et dans laquelle il baignait.”
― Maurice Blanchot, quote from Thomas the Obscure


“I wish I’d never met the bastard known as destiny.”
― Jessica Sorensen, quote from The Probability of Violet & Luke


“you don’t give someone your love. They take it. Love is taken. And, when someone takes your love, you will know it. Do you understand?”
― Scott Hildreth, quote from Broken People


“What turns a person into a monster like this? Training? Some horrible event in his past? Genetics? How does a man lose his humanity?”
― Jack Kilborn, quote from Afraid


Interesting books

Threads: The Reincarnation of Anne Boleyn
(1.1K)
Threads: The Reincar...
by Nell Gavin
The Dragon Factory
(7.7K)
The Dragon Factory
by Jonathan Maberry
Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith
(5K)
Leaving Church: A Me...
by Barbara Brown Taylor
Cassandra: A Novel and Four Essays
(1.2K)
Cassandra: A Novel a...
by Christa Wolf
A World Without Islam
(1.2K)
A World Without Isla...
by Graham E. Fuller
Landing
(3.1K)
Landing
by Emma Donoghue

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.