I'm no longer going to be using this blog to discuss my identity crisis.  I will, however, continue to write much more lighthearted posts such as my dreams and reviews of the books I read.  I did want to comment on a recent piece of fiction I read titled The Passion by Jeanette Winterson. I loved this book and took the time to note some poignant quotes that really resonated with me. This book is indeed about passion, which I believe is the most important quality one can possess.

"I have shouted to God...but [He] has not shouted back and I'm not interested in the still small voice. Surely a god can meet passion with passion?"

"I was happy but happy is an adult word. You don't have to ask a child about happy, you see it. They are or they are not. Adults talk about being happy because largely they are not. Talking about it is the same as trying to catch the wind. Much easier to let it blow all over you. This is where I disagree with the philosophers. They talk about passionate things but there is no passion in them. Never talk happiness with a philosopher."

"To kiss well one must kiss solely. No groping hands or stammering hearts. The lips and the lips alone are the pleasure. Passion is sweeter split strand by strand."

"I say I'm in love with her. What does that mean? It means I review my future and my past in the light of this feeling. It is as though I wrote in a foreign language that I am suddenly able to read. Wordlessly, she explains me to myself."

"Saints love to be whipped and I've seen pictures galore of their extatic scars and longing glances. Watching an ordinary person being whipped couldn't have the same effect. Saintly flesh is soft and white and always hidden from the day. When the whip finds it out, that is the moment of pleasure, the moment when what was hidden is revealed."
This is just a taste of all the quotes in this book that touched me. Her prose reads like poetry and sometimes I feel she's inside my head, expressing my deepest thoughts and voicing my realities. I'm now reading Beguiled by Alice Borchardt. I don't think it warrents much of a review. It's a bit trite and although it's supposed to be in the same vein as Braveheart, it reminds me more of the cheesy Xena Warrior Princess ilk.