I grew up being very shy, very much a bookworm, and I remember desperately wondering how to be accepted by the popular kids.

Fencing isn't really fighting. It's more like chess with the risk of puncture wounds

The smarter you are, the more reasons you have to be miserable.

The span of three or four minutes is pretty insignificant in the scheme of things. People lose hundreds of minutes everyday, squandering them on trivial things. But sometimes in those fragments of time, something can happen you'll remember the rest of your life.

I realized I wasn't going to find a man until I was willing to expose myself to possible harm, to assume the risks of rejection and betrayal and heartbreak that came along with caring about someone. Someday, I promised myself, I would be ready for that kind of risk.

But I hadn't known what love was. And I wondered how you could ever be sure, when you thought you loved someone, if you really did.

Come on, Ella. Sleep green.' Ignoring him, I got into bed wearing a T-shirt and boxer shorts printed with penguins. I reached over to the nightstand and flipped off the lamp. A moment of silence, and then I heard a lecherous murmur. 'I like your penguins.