I went on spouting bullshit Encouragements as Gus's parents, arm in arm, hugged each other and nodded at every word. Funerals, I had decided, are for the living.

When we read the right book generously, it can change the way think about the world around us.

We don't suffer from a shortage of metaphors . . . But you have to be careful which metaphor you choose, because it matters.

And since she drove to work every morning, I could only use the car on weekends. Well, weekends and the middle of the goddamned night.

I hated cranberry sauce, but for some reason my mom persisted in her lifelong belief that it was my very favorite food, even though every single Thanksgiving I politely declined to include it on my plate.

Waffles are just awesome bread.

As lives go, I'll take the quietly desperate over the radically bipolar.