Besides the obvious difference, there was not much distinction between losing a best friend and losing a lover: it was all about intimacy. One moment, you had someone to share your biggest triumphs and fatal flaws with; the next minute, you had to keep them bottled inside. One moment, you'd start to call her to tell her a snippet of news or to vent about your awful day before realizing you did not have that right anymore; the next, you could not remember the digits of her phone number.

My brother believed in all sorts of mythical creatures: pixies, dragons, werewolves, honest men.

Teachers deserve respect," I explain. "Why do they get it for free, when everyone else has to earn it?

I think there are two different oceans - the one that plays with you in the summer, and the one that gets so mad in the winter.

They say that there are moments that open up your life like a walnut cracked, that change your point of view so that you never look at things the same way again.

I truly believed that the cost of success for us shouldn't be the cost of failure for a good friend.

The woman who opens the door has a blue stain on her shirt and dark hair wound into a messy knot and the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. They're pale, like a lioness's, nearly golden, but they also look like they've done their fair share of crying, and we all know that a sky with clouds in it is much more interesting than one that doesn't have any.