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Tayari Jones

Tayari Jones Books

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Silver Sparrow

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“I have always let you know how much I care, right? You never had to wonder. I'm not a man for words. Daddy showed me that you 'do' for a woman. Remember that time when you damn near had a nervous breakdown because it looked like the hickory-nut tree in the front yard was thinking about dying? Where I'm from, we don't believe in spending money on pets, let alone trees. But I couldn't bear to see you fret, so I hired a tree doctor. See, in my mind, that was a love letter.”

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Book:An American Marriage
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“I was ready to get this show on the road, creating a new generation with an updated set of rules and regulations. Not that there was anything wrong with the way either one of us was brought up, but still, the world is changing, so the way you bring up kids had to change, too. Part of my plan was to never one time mention picking cotton. My parents always talked about either real cotton or the idea of it. White people say, 'It beats digging a ditch'; black people say, 'It beats picking cotton.' I'm not going to remind my kids that somebody died in order for me to do everyday things. I don't want Roy III sitting up in the movie theater trying to watch Star Wars or what have you and be thinking about the fact that sitting down eating some popcorn is a right that cost somebody his life. None of that. Or maybe not much of that. We'll have to get the recipe right. Now Celestial promises that she will never say that they have to be twice as good to get half as much. 'Even if it's true,' she said, 'what kind of thing is that to say to a five-year-old?”

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Book:An American Marriage
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“Mama, I said, and then the crying came. I had not cried since I was sentenced and I had humiliated myself before a judge who didn't care. On that horrible day, my snotty sobbing had merged with Celestial and Olive's morning accompaniment. Now I suffered a cappella; the weeping burned my throat like when you vomit strong liquor. That one word, Mama, was my only prayer as I phrased on the ground like I was feeling the Holy Ghost, only what I was going through wasn't rapture. I spasmed on that cold black earth in pain, physical pain. My joints hurt; I experienced what felt like a baton against the back of my head. It was like I relived every injury of my life.. The pain went on until it didn't. and I say up, dirty and spent.”

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Book:An American Marriage
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“When I was growing up, Grandmamma used to say, “The Lord works in mysterious ways” or “He might not be there when you want Him, but He’s always right on time.” Evie used to say, “God will do to you what He feels like needs to be done to you.” Then Grandmamma would tell Evie to hush and remind her that getting left by a man was not the worst thing that ever happened to somebody. And Evie would say, “It’s the worst thing that ever happened to me.” She said it so much that she came down with lupus. “God wanted me to see what misery really was,” Evie said. I didn’t like all this God talk, like He was up there toying with us. I preferred more of the tenderness and acceptance my grandmother promised in her hymns. I told this to Evie when I was a little boy and she said, “You got to work with the god you were given”

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“Did I imagine that this was our pattern for all time? That we could grow old together, accusing and forgiving? Back then, I dind’t know what forever looked like. Maybe I don’t even know now. But that night in Piney Woods, I believed that our marriage was a fine-spun tapestry, fragile but fixable. We tore it often and mended it, always with a silken thread, lovely but sure to give way.”

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Book:An American Marriage
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“Sometimes it's exhausting for me to simply walk into the house. I try and calm myself, remember that I've lived alone before. Sleeping by myself didn't kill me then and will not kill me now. But this what loss has taught me of love. Our house isn't simply empty, our home has been emptied. Love makes a place in your life, it makes a place for itself in your bed. Invisibly, it makes a place in your body, rerouting all your blood vessels, throbbing right alongside your heart. When it's gone, nothing is whole again.”

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Book:An American Marriage
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“Ik schrijf deze brief aan de keukentafel. Ik ben alleen op een manier die meer is dan het simpele gegeven dat ik de enige levende ziel ben binnen deze muren. Tot nu toe dacht ik dat ik wist wat wel en wat niet mogelijk was. Misschien is dat de ware betekenis van onschuld, dat je je geen enkele voorstelling kunt maken van pijn en verdriet in de toekomst. Als er iets gebeurt wat al het denkbare overstijgt, verander je daardoor. Het lijkt op het verschil tussen een rauw ei en een gebakken ei. Het is hetzelfde, maar toch totaal anders. Beter dan zo kan ik het niet uitleggen. Ik kijk in de spiegel en ik weet dat ik het ben, maar ik herken mezelf niet. Soms is het al te vermoeiend voor me om simpelweg het huis binnen te gaan. Ik probeer mezelf tot rede te brengen, eraan te denken dat ik hier eerder alleen heb gewoond. Toen ging ik niet dood aan alleen slapen en dat zal ook nu niet gebeuren. Maar dit is wat verlies mij heeft geleerd over de liefde. Ons huis is niet zomaar leeg, ons huis is leeggehaald. Liefde neemt ruimte in in je leven, maakt plaats voor zichzelf in je bed. Onzichtbaar nestelt het gevoel zich in je lichaam, stroomt het door al je bloedvaten en klopt het in je hart. Als het verdwenen is, klopt er niets meer. Voordat ik jou leerde kennen, was ik niet eenzaam, maar nu ben ik zo eenzaam dat ik tegen de muren praat en tegen het plafond zing.”

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Book:An American Marriage
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“Nine Years Under is a sparkling debut--- brimming with love and bursting with life. Booker's Baltimore is equal parts The Wire and The Cosby show. She doesn't shrink from the realities of life in an inner city funeral home, but she is also a loving witness, documenting the big hearted community that takes care of its own. Told with compassion, wit, and good old fashioned story telling, Sheri Booker gives us unforgettable characters who will make you laugh right up until they break your heart.”

GivingYearsHeartCharacterStoriesShowsHomeBigsRealityCareCommunityCitiesCompassionBreakLaughingEqualTake CareWitNineWitnessReality Of LifeFuneralOld FashionedWireShrinksHeartedNine YearsBurstingBaltimoreSparklingBreak Your HeartDebutUnforgettableMake You LaughInner CityBig HeartCosby Show
Author:Tayari Jones
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“And this is how it started. Just with coffee and the exchange of their long stories. Love can be incremental. Predicaments, too. Coffee can start a life just as it can start a day. This was the meeting of two people who were destined to love from before they were born, from before they made choices that would complicate their lives. This love just rolled toward my mother as though she were standing at the bottom of a steep hill. Mother had no hand in this, only heart.”

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Book:Silver Sparrow
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“I am neither religious nor superstitious, but there is something otherworldly about the space where two roads come together. The devil is said to set up shop there if you want to swap your soul for something more useful. If you believe that God can be bribed, it's also the hallowed ground to make sacrifices. In the literal sense, it's also a place to change direction, but once you've changed it, you're stuck until you come to another crossroads, and who knows how long that will be.”

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Book:Silver Sparrow
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“I don’t mind expressing my opinions and speaking out against injustice. I would be doing this even if I wasn’t a writer. I grew up in a household that believed in social justice. I have always understood myself as having an obligation to stand on the side of the silenced, the oppressed, and the mistreated.”

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Author:Tayari Jones
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