She understood how a world jammed with phones, email, and faxes could still leave you feeling utterly alone.

In my family, we seem to have a tortured history of not saying what we ought to and not meaning what we do.

I am Alice in Wonderland', Josie thought. 'Watch me fall.

May I ask you something?" I say. "Why do you read books, when you could be outside, living a million different adventures every day?" "Because you can always count on a book to stay the same. EVerything else changes when you least expect it," she replies, bitter. "Families split apart, and nothing's forever. In books, you always know what's coming next. There are no surprises.

A place like this wears down everything, and tolerance is no exception. In here, coexistence passes for forgiveness. You do not learn to like something you abhor; you come to live with it...You live and let live, and eventually that becomes enough.

I don't understand why people never say what they mean. It's like the immigrants who come to a country and learn the language but are completely baffled by idioms. (Seriously, how could anyone who isn't a native English speaker 'get the picture,' so to speak, and not assume it has something to do with a photo or a painting?)

She shrugged. "You can be happy for someone else's good fortune, but that doesn't mean you forget your own bad luck.