Quotes from Jenny Colgan

Reading is being in stuff." Ben squinted. "Like actually being there?" "Like actually being there. You plug straight into the writer's brain. It's just you and them. You experience what they experience.

Books are absolutely the thing in my opinion, or as the old saying goes: whatever gets you through the night (which I should say is also books. Books get you through the night).)

Some people go through life not really deciding to do much, not wanting to, always too fearful of the consequences to try something new. Of course, that in itself is also a decision. You'll get somewhere whether you put any effort into it or not. But doing something new is so hard. And a few things can help.

Those were the 4:00 a.m. thoughts, when she felt so worthless and inadequate that it was almost funny. Not funny, but almost.

Good," said Anita. "Do you know what you're not thinking about when you're slicing zucchini?" "Everything else?" "Correct. You're not overthinking everything else.

He was from that generation—the type who didn't change things just because they were tired of them, or they were outdated. You bought something, or married someone, and stuck with it.

Nina wondered what on Earth it would be to have that much money; to buy that many books without worrying.

I just . . . I built him up in my mind so much." "Too much reading." "In my head, he was this kind of lost romantic hero." "He can't get lost, he drives a train.

She had always been dainty, and never quite confident enough to dance where anyone might see. Here, though, nobody cared or noticed. The emphasis wasn't on looking good or being sexy or standing out; it was about hurling yourself into it and dancing as if you didn't have a care in the world, or a worry, or even a thought; it was dancing as catharsis, and Nina very quickly found that she absolutely loved it.

Bramble, the fat retired sheepdog who was snoozing by the fire, got up in case she was doing anything interesting, then went back to his busy day job of sleeping, farting, and looking for pastry.

Had a million different tiny things happened. Because life is like that, isn't it? If you thought of all the tiny things that divert your path one way or another, some good, some bad, you'd never do anything ever again.

No experimental cures. No life-prolonging – and misery-prolonging – chemotherapy. As far as Colton was concerned, he had made his plans and said his goodbyes and was now letting the tide go out, ever so slightly; the waves came less far up the beach; the sea got further and further from view, bit by bit.

Some people go through life not really deciding to do much, not wanting to, always too fearful of the consequences to try something new. Of course, that in itself is also a decision. You'll get somewhere whether you put any effort into it or not. But doing something new is so hard.

People who were normally very organized and in control could fight extremely hard to preserve that control, including reducing their world to a tiny space which could not harm them.

You've moved an entire country away with a big bunch of books and a van. said Surinder. I already think you are totally stupid.

Plymouth?" Chapter Five They had to wait thirty-five minutes for the tide to go out far enough for them to get back across the causeway. Polly spent the entire time humming to distract herself from Kerensa, who had come up with another ninety-five reasons why she couldn't possibly move to Polbearne. Funnily enough, they only seemed to make her more determined.

these drugs, they take away the lows but they can take away the highs too. They can isolate you from the world, you know? Wrap you in cotton wool . . . remove you a little. For people whose pain is unendurable, of course.

Lilian and Ida Delia headed off to watch television together. They had a shared loathing for everyone who took part in scripted reality shows, and thus absolutely had to watch all of them together in order to better anatomize and discuss the faults of the young people taking part in them and therefore of today's society in general. They felt this was important work that often required tea and Smarties.

She would be as kick-ass as Katniss Everdeen, as uncompromising as Elizabeth Bennet, as brave as Hero.

sometimes she felt the world wasn't built for people like her. Confident, big-personality people like Surinder simply didn't understand. If you weren't an extrovert, if you weren't shoving yourself out into the open all the time, posting selfies everywhere, demanding attention, talking constantly, people just gazed right past you. You got overlooked. And normally she didn't mind.

but the view was utterly breathtaking. She felt as if she were in the middle of a living, breathing painting in a million shades of green.

Just do something. You might make a mistake, then you can fix it. But if you do nothing, you can't fix anything. And your life might turn out to be full of regrets.

She would have been considered a beauty in any period of history other than the early twenty-first century, when the only acceptable shape for a beautiful woman was that of a hungry six-year-old who had inexplicably grown solid apple-shaped tits out of her shoulder blades.

People buy things in the hope that it will make them feel better," said Blair. "It gives you a momentary boost, just buying it, but not for long. It's just a stupid dopamine hit