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“Once every few years, even now, I catch the scent of Africa.  It makes me want to keen, sing, clap up thunder, lie down at the foot of a tree and let the worms take whatever of me they can still use.   I find it impossible to bear. Ripe fruits, acrid sweat, urine flowers, dark spices, and other things I’ve never even seen — I can’t say what goes into the composition, or why it rises up to confront me as I round some corner hastily, unsuspecting. It has found me here on this island, in our little town…” The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver

“Once every few years, even now, I catch the scent of Africa.  It makes me want to keen, sing, clap up thunder, lie down at the foot of a tree and let the worms take whatever of me they can still use.  

I find it impossible to bear.

Ripe fruits, acrid sweat, urine flowers, dark spices, and other things I’ve never even seen — I can’t say what goes into the composition, or why it rises up to confront me as I round some corner hastily, unsuspecting. It has found me here on this island, in our little town…”

The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver

Posted 2 years ago
40 notes
Tagged: Africa, Mali 2006, books I love, photographs, packing break, .
  1. stormyweatherwarning reblogged this from beenthinking and added:
    I can REALLY relate to this— one of the reasons I love this book so much! Personal anecdote time: So, I lived in...
  2. jcarl reblogged this from beenthinking
  3. binarycatharsis reblogged this from beenthinking and added:
    This is a friend’s absolute favorite, though I haven’t had the chance to read it yet myself. It sounds so incredible.
  4. katherine reblogged this from beenthinking and added:
    Does this still apply if I lack a sense of smell? I believe it does.
  5. ferfluffle reblogged this from beenthinking
  6. caseyliz reblogged this from beenthinking and added:
    reblogged for jenna - and for myself, five years later. AND ALSO FOR ANNE WHO IS THE BEST
  7. adventureswithamy reblogged this from beenthinking and added:
    interesting reflection…
  8. nomadsoul reblogged this from beenthinking and added:
    Yes. Every so often something random will set off a strong longing for...strongest sensory...
  9. michaelikesit said: every now and then I’ll get what I call the scent of eastern europe. It first struck me when I visited budapest for the first time.
  10. just-susanna said: i loved this book so very much, it helped shape parts of what i believe today.
  11. beenthinking posted this