Jenn Bennett · 304 pages
Rating: (10.7K votes)
“What do I want?” His fingers brushed over loose strands of hair near my temple. “I want to call you every five minutes. I want to text you good night every night. I want to make you laugh. And I want you to look at me like you did that first night on the bus.”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“I don’t want my mistakes to affect everyone else in the room,” I said after a moment. “I want to keep to myself and do as little damage as possible.”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“Too weird for jocks, and not weird enough for hipsters, I was neither freak nor geek, and that left me stranded in no-man’s-land.”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“You're like ten prismacolors all at once.”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“He was kissing me like we were both on fire and he was trying to put the flames out, and I kissed him back like an arsonist with a pocketful of matches.”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“Hey, Bex?” Jack said as he grated. “Just so we’re clear, if we were alone, I’d probably kiss you right now.”
I gave him a swift glance as the hallway laughter made its way back to the kitchen. “Just so we’re clear, I’d probably let you.”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“Mom says you should never ask for advice you aren’t willing to take. I wasn’t sure I agreed. Having an unbiased pair of eyes point out a sensible solution was helpful. But the sensible thing and the right thing weren’t always the same choice, and no one but you could truly understand the difference.”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“Beatrix Adams," he said. "You know I trust you with everything. The anatomical representation of my heart, my life...even my car."
"You must really love me," I said, matching my steps with his.
I knew he did, of course. We try not to say it casually too much, because we want it to mean something. Not just a throwaway phrase like "How's it going" or "See you later." But when I'm in his arms, when we're alone, he whispers "I love you," and those three words never stop amazing me. Never.”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“This was the night bus, not a Journey song. Two strangers were not on a midnight train going anywhere. I was going home, and he was probably going to knock over a liquor store.”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“Feeling alive is always worth the risk.”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“I’m not sure what I feel. All I know is that I’m tired of being the innocent bystander who gets punched in the gut. It’s their fight—Mom and Dad’s. But how come Heath and I are the ones who end up bruised?” He rearranged one of my braids and wound the loose tail around the tip of his index finger. “Because everything we do in life affects someone else. Buddhists say that inside and outside are basically the same thing. It’s like we’re all trapped together in a small room. If someone pisses in the corner, we all have to worry about it trickling across the floor and getting our shoes wet.”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“Yeah. I guess I’m a color-inside-the-lines girl. Worse, really—I’d rather shade inside the lines with a nice, light 4H pencil. Something dark like a 5B or 6B? That’s me going nuts.” He laughed, stretching out his long legs”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“Do you ride?” That sounded sort of dirty, and the way he looked at me felt sort of dirty, too. No one ever looked at me like that.
“Why ‘Ghost’?” I asked.
Grasping the top of the car door, he leaned over it and spoke in a dramatic, foreboding voice. “Because she’s so fast she disappears down the streets at night.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
His dimple appeared. “The best things in life are.”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“Feeling alive is merely a rush of adrenaline.”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“Doing nothing can cause as much damage as doing something.”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“And then he was kissing me like we were both on fire and he was trying to put the flames out, and I kissed him back like an arsonist with a pocketful of matches.”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“Everything we do in life affects someone else.”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“And you’re apparently made of mountain. Are you sure you’re an engineer and not a lumberjack?”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“I like the way bones and skin move, and I like seeing how all of the chambers of the heart fit together”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“I will fix it for you. Hand on my heart, Bex Adams, I will fix it”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“If you want to take me somewhere, give me your wallet”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“Distichiasis. Your eyelashes. A genetic mutation that causes double rows of lashes”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“I'm not one of those cool, creative kids in my art class who make skirts out of trash bags and paint in crazy colours.”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“Why is the vegetarian Buddhist dressed like a jewel thief?”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“Wow. Snubbed by a homeless guy. My night was getting better and better”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“My brother was right about one thing: I didn't really know how to be bad”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“I was eighteen, baby! I could finally... vote and buy all those cartons of cigarettes I'd been pining for. Yippee”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“But you know, sometimes people smile when they're sad. And sometimes girls who look sad are really smiling”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“Earth to Beatrix: This was the night bus, not a Journey song. Two strangers were not on a midnight train going anywhere. I was going home, and he was probably going to knock over a liquor store. When”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“Para ocultar mi sonrisa, fingí mirar a un coche que pasaba. Pero no importó, porque el tranvía se acercaba a la parada. Me subí antes que Jack, dando pequeños brincos. Incluso saludé al conductor. Sí, definitivamente estaba perdida.”
― Jenn Bennett, quote from The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
“There are some who'd say she hadn't known him long enough to be affected. I knew better. There are a rare few in this world with the power to touch the hearts of all those they meet, but Marc was one of them. He'd been my first friend in Trollus, and not a day went by that I wasn't stricken with an anguish so intense it stole my breath. For Marc. And for everyone else who'd fallen.”
― Danielle L. Jensen, quote from Warrior Witch
“The very fact that it is necessary in the twenty-first century to explain why it's not okay to publicly debate whether or not women are "asking" for sexual assault is mind-boggling.”
― Laura Bates, quote from Everyday Sexism
“In Charles Dickens's books I had to admire the way the meanest enemies spoke to each other, with what seemed to me to be the greatest civility.”
― Jane Hamilton, quote from The Book of Ruth
“Once a dream did weave a shade
O'er my angel-guarded bed,
That an emmet lost its way
Where on grass methought I lay.
Troubled, wildered, and forlorn,
Dark, benighted, travel-worn,
Over many a tangle spray,
All heart-broke, I heard her say:
'Oh my children! do they cry,
Do they hear their father sigh?
Now they look abroad to see,
Now return and weep for me.'
Pitying, I dropped a tear:
But I saw a glow-worm near,
Who replied, 'What wailing wight
Calls the watchman of the night?
'I am set to light the ground,
While the beetle goes his round:
Follow now the beetle's hum;
Little wanderer, hie thee home!
- "A Dream”
― William Blake, quote from The Complete Poems
“Right now it's like we're three islands, and nothing but oceans between us.”
― Sara Zarr, quote from Once Was Lost
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