“Everybody has a story, Alison," he said. "Everybody has things they need to hide--sometimes even from themselves.”
―
R.J. Anderson,
Ultraviolet
“I realized then that even though I was a tiny speck in an infinite cosmos, a blip on the timeline of eternity, I was not without purpose. And as long as I had a part in the music of the spheres, even if it was only a single grace note, I was not worthless. Nor was I alone.” ― R.J. Anderson, Ultraviolet
“The lines gradually become their own demiurges and, like some witless yet miraculous participant, I witness the birth on paper of sentences that have eluded my will and appear in spite of me on the sheet, teaching me something that I neither knew nor thought I might want to know.” ― Muriel Barbery (Author) Alison Anderson (Translator)
“...joy is a thing to be shared, quickly, without hesitation.” ― Alison Anderson, Hidden Latitudes: A Novel of Amelia Earhart
“I'd finally reached the end of myself, all my self-reliance and denial and pride unraveling into nothingness, leaving only a blank Alison-shaped space behind. It was finished. I was done.But just as I felt myself dissolving on the tide of my own self-condemnation, the dark waves receded, and I floated into a celestial calm.I saw the whole universe laid out before me, a vast shining machine of indescribable beauty and complexity. Its design was too intricate for me to understand, and I knew I could never begin to grasp more than the smallest idea of its purpose. But I sensed that every part of it, from quark to quasar, was unique and - in some mysterious way - significant. I heard the universe as an oratorio sung by a master choir of stars, accompanied by the orchestra of the planets and the percussion of satellites and moons. The aria they performed was a song to break the heart, full of tragic dissonance and deferred hope, and yet somewhere beneath it all was a peircing refrain of glory, glory, glory. And I sensed that not only the grand movements of the cosmos, but everything that had happened in my life, was a part of that song. Even the hurts that seemed most senseless, the mistakes I would have done anything to erase - nothing could make those things good, but good could still come out of them all the same, and in the end the oratorio would be no less beautiful for it.I realized then that even though I was a tiny speck in an infinite cosmos, a blip on the timeline of eternity, I was not without purpose. And as long as I had a part in the music of the spheres, even if it was only a single grace not, I was not worthless. Nor was I alone.God help me, I prayed as I gathered up my raw and weary sense, flung them into the wormhole - And at last, found what I'd been looking for.” ― R.J. Anderson, Ultraviolet
“She has known some happiness there, a privileged moment of revelation, a glimpse into an unexplored part of herself, into something beyond herself. But she is also suspicious of such moment; they do not last, and one never knows where and when they might recur, like islands of an uncharted archipelago. p 108” ― Alison Anderson, Hidden Latitudes: A Novel of Amelia Earhart
“To have wings and yet to want to ride...” ― Alison Anderson, Hidden Latitudes: A Novel of Amelia Earhart
“Dante Alighieri, Purgatorio W. H. Auden, “Musée des Beaux Arts,” from Collected Poems Jane Austen Russell Banks, Continental Drift Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, translated by Alison Anderson Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader The Holy Bible Elizabeth Bishop Roberto Bolaño, The Savage Detectives, translated by Natasha Wimmer” ― Will Schwalbe, The End of Your Life Book Club
“That's what the future is for: to build the present, with real plans, made by living people. - The Elegance of the Hedgehog” ― Muriel Barbery Alison Anderson
“...he is caught by the urgency of departure, as if this island were not good enough.p 133” ― Alison Anderson, Hidden Latitudes: A Novel of Amelia Earhart
“Alison,' said Kirk. 'She's new. Hey, want a space?' He nudged out one of the empty chairs with his foot.'Space,' echoed Sanjay.'The final frontier,' said Kirk helpfully. 'Or a place to sit, whatever. You gonna join us?” ― RJ Anderson
“It had been hard t live int he wilderness without a goal, without a future. Now, at last, we had one.p 166” ― Alison Anderson, Hidden Latitudes: A Novel of Amelia Earhart
“Until that time I had ascribed the reasons for my cultural eclecticism to my condition as a proletarian autodidact. As I have already explained, I have spent every moment of my existence that could be spared from work in reading, watching films, and listening to music.Muriel Barbery, translated by Alison Anderson, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, 2008” ― Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog
“Others may use one’s blindness to find a place of comfort.” ― Alison Anderson, The Summer Guest
“To be dissatisfied in the present moment—what a torment that must be, constantly pursuing one with doubt and disappointment. I” ― Alison Anderson, The Summer Guest
“Acknowledgments You hold this book in your hands ◆ because Bonnie Nadell and Austen Rachlis, no matter how many bananas drafts they read (and boy were they bananas), saw what this book could be, and helped me to see it too. Because Naomi Gibbs saw it and brought it fully into itself, and was a joy to work with, like everyone at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Larry Cooper, Chrissy Kurpeski, Liz Anderson, Michelle Triant, among others, who took my weird visions and made them manifest, and beautiful. And because Andrea Schulz, years ago, when she first heard about my day job, said, Oh, you should definitely write about that. Thank you, Kayla Rae Whitaker and Amber Sparks, for your words and your kindness. You hold this book because I lived in Boston for eleven years and worked in both fundraising and finance, and had a LOT to process. Thank you, MGH and the Prospect Research Team (2010–2014), especially Angie Morey. I loved the work, but I loved working with you all even more. You are an astounding group of human beings. Thank you, Michael and Deanna Sheridan, Wendy Price, Barry Abrams, Heather Heald, and Eddie Miller, for the years before MGH, the days of RFPs and BlackBerrys (those who know, know). I didn’t always love the work itself, but working with you was a gift, and it changed my life. Thank you, Grub Street, which I am thrilled to work for still; thank you to Michelle Hoover, Alison Murphy, and Chris Castellani, and to all the thoughtful, visionary, funny, and immensely talented writers and people in the Grub universe.” ― Kate Racculia, Tuesday Mooney Talks To Ghosts
“You take the words, she thought; by themselves, individually, they are almost meaningless. You take them one by one and you build not only a description, a vision, but also a memory, where you are present, and he is present, too, though neither of you is described by those words. What sort of magic was this?” ― Alison Anderson, The Summer Guest
“There’s something to be said for naïveté. Up to a point in life, anyway. When did you lose it, do you suppose—was it a person or an event?” ― Alison Anderson, The Summer Guest
“The music was scraping me from within, but I needed it more than anything. To prove to myself that I am still alive, to witness the alchemy that turns sadness to a beauty I can still see.” ― Alison Anderson, The Summer Guest
“I realized then that even though I was a tiny speck in an infinite cosmos, a blip on the timeline of eternity, I was not without purpose. And as long as I had a part in the music of the spheres, even if it was only a single grace note, I was not worthless. Nor was I alone.” ― R.J. Anderson, Ultraviolet
“The lines gradually become their own demiurges and, like some witless yet miraculous participant, I witness the birth on paper of sentences that have eluded my will and appear in spite of me on the sheet, teaching me something that I neither knew nor thought I might want to know.” ― Muriel Barbery (Author) Alison Anderson (Translator)
“...joy is a thing to be shared, quickly, without hesitation.” ― Alison Anderson, Hidden Latitudes: A Novel of Amelia Earhart
“I'd finally reached the end of myself, all my self-reliance and denial and pride unraveling into nothingness, leaving only a blank Alison-shaped space behind. It was finished. I was done.But just as I felt myself dissolving on the tide of my own self-condemnation, the dark waves receded, and I floated into a celestial calm.I saw the whole universe laid out before me, a vast shining machine of indescribable beauty and complexity. Its design was too intricate for me to understand, and I knew I could never begin to grasp more than the smallest idea of its purpose. But I sensed that every part of it, from quark to quasar, was unique and - in some mysterious way - significant. I heard the universe as an oratorio sung by a master choir of stars, accompanied by the orchestra of the planets and the percussion of satellites and moons. The aria they performed was a song to break the heart, full of tragic dissonance and deferred hope, and yet somewhere beneath it all was a peircing refrain of glory, glory, glory. And I sensed that not only the grand movements of the cosmos, but everything that had happened in my life, was a part of that song. Even the hurts that seemed most senseless, the mistakes I would have done anything to erase - nothing could make those things good, but good could still come out of them all the same, and in the end the oratorio would be no less beautiful for it.I realized then that even though I was a tiny speck in an infinite cosmos, a blip on the timeline of eternity, I was not without purpose. And as long as I had a part in the music of the spheres, even if it was only a single grace not, I was not worthless. Nor was I alone.God help me, I prayed as I gathered up my raw and weary sense, flung them into the wormhole - And at last, found what I'd been looking for.” ― R.J. Anderson, Ultraviolet
“She has known some happiness there, a privileged moment of revelation, a glimpse into an unexplored part of herself, into something beyond herself. But she is also suspicious of such moment; they do not last, and one never knows where and when they might recur, like islands of an uncharted archipelago. p 108” ― Alison Anderson, Hidden Latitudes: A Novel of Amelia Earhart
“To have wings and yet to want to ride...” ― Alison Anderson, Hidden Latitudes: A Novel of Amelia Earhart
“Dante Alighieri, Purgatorio W. H. Auden, “Musée des Beaux Arts,” from Collected Poems Jane Austen Russell Banks, Continental Drift Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, translated by Alison Anderson Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader The Holy Bible Elizabeth Bishop Roberto Bolaño, The Savage Detectives, translated by Natasha Wimmer” ― Will Schwalbe, The End of Your Life Book Club
“That's what the future is for: to build the present, with real plans, made by living people. - The Elegance of the Hedgehog” ― Muriel Barbery Alison Anderson
“...he is caught by the urgency of departure, as if this island were not good enough.p 133” ― Alison Anderson, Hidden Latitudes: A Novel of Amelia Earhart
“Alison,' said Kirk. 'She's new. Hey, want a space?' He nudged out one of the empty chairs with his foot.'Space,' echoed Sanjay.'The final frontier,' said Kirk helpfully. 'Or a place to sit, whatever. You gonna join us?” ― RJ Anderson
“It had been hard t live int he wilderness without a goal, without a future. Now, at last, we had one.p 166” ― Alison Anderson, Hidden Latitudes: A Novel of Amelia Earhart
“Until that time I had ascribed the reasons for my cultural eclecticism to my condition as a proletarian autodidact. As I have already explained, I have spent every moment of my existence that could be spared from work in reading, watching films, and listening to music.Muriel Barbery, translated by Alison Anderson, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, 2008” ― Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog
“Others may use one’s blindness to find a place of comfort.” ― Alison Anderson, The Summer Guest
“To be dissatisfied in the present moment—what a torment that must be, constantly pursuing one with doubt and disappointment. I” ― Alison Anderson, The Summer Guest
“Acknowledgments You hold this book in your hands ◆ because Bonnie Nadell and Austen Rachlis, no matter how many bananas drafts they read (and boy were they bananas), saw what this book could be, and helped me to see it too. Because Naomi Gibbs saw it and brought it fully into itself, and was a joy to work with, like everyone at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Larry Cooper, Chrissy Kurpeski, Liz Anderson, Michelle Triant, among others, who took my weird visions and made them manifest, and beautiful. And because Andrea Schulz, years ago, when she first heard about my day job, said, Oh, you should definitely write about that. Thank you, Kayla Rae Whitaker and Amber Sparks, for your words and your kindness. You hold this book because I lived in Boston for eleven years and worked in both fundraising and finance, and had a LOT to process. Thank you, MGH and the Prospect Research Team (2010–2014), especially Angie Morey. I loved the work, but I loved working with you all even more. You are an astounding group of human beings. Thank you, Michael and Deanna Sheridan, Wendy Price, Barry Abrams, Heather Heald, and Eddie Miller, for the years before MGH, the days of RFPs and BlackBerrys (those who know, know). I didn’t always love the work itself, but working with you was a gift, and it changed my life. Thank you, Grub Street, which I am thrilled to work for still; thank you to Michelle Hoover, Alison Murphy, and Chris Castellani, and to all the thoughtful, visionary, funny, and immensely talented writers and people in the Grub universe.” ― Kate Racculia, Tuesday Mooney Talks To Ghosts
“You take the words, she thought; by themselves, individually, they are almost meaningless. You take them one by one and you build not only a description, a vision, but also a memory, where you are present, and he is present, too, though neither of you is described by those words. What sort of magic was this?” ― Alison Anderson, The Summer Guest
“There’s something to be said for naïveté. Up to a point in life, anyway. When did you lose it, do you suppose—was it a person or an event?” ― Alison Anderson, The Summer Guest
“The music was scraping me from within, but I needed it more than anything. To prove to myself that I am still alive, to witness the alchemy that turns sadness to a beauty I can still see.” ― Alison Anderson, The Summer Guest
