That is, to me at least, one of the most helpful and useful things books do for us: They are generous enough to allow us to choose what matters to us.

We need never be hopeless because we can never be irreperably broken.

But mothers lie. It's in the job description.

He knew he couldn't tell stories, that he always included extraneous details & tangents that interested only him.

She said Robert Joyner had killed himself with a gun. And then I asked why, and then she told me that he was getting a divorce and was sad about it.' 'Lots of people get divorces and don't kill themselves,' I said. 'I know,' she said, excitement in her voice. 'That's what I told her.

It's fine," I repeated. And whatever. It was fine. It had to be.

At least for tonight. In sickness and in health. In good times and in bad. For richer, for poorer. 'Till dawn do us part.