the english patient

i devoured this book in a few nights the first time i read it 15 years ago and just recently picked it up again, searching for some favorite lines (there are several in this book). michael ondaatje's haunting masterpiece stayed with me for months, as did the beautifully heartbreaking anthony minghella film adaptation.
anyway, here are the lines i went looking for:


“We die containing a richness of lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we have plunged into and swum up as if rivers of wisdom, characters we have climbed into as if trees, fears we have hidden in as if caves... I wish for all this to be marked on by body when I am dead. I believe in such cartography - to be marked by nature, not just to label ourselves on a map like the names of rich men and women on buildings. We are communal histories, communal books. We are not owned or monogamous in our taste or experience.”  - m. ondaatje

have a literary perfect weekend!