All my friends seem to be smart arses. Don't ask me why. Like many things, it is what it is.

You cannot be afraid, Read the book. Smile at it. It's a great book-the greatest book you've ever read.

We're silent now, both waiting, till I remind myself that I'm the older one and should therefore initiate conversation. But I don't. I don't want to waste this girl with idle chitchat. She's beautiful.

She looks at the swings, and I can see she’s imagining what they’d look like if the kids weren’t there. The guilt of this holds her down momentarily. It appears to be there constantly. Never far away, despite her love for them. I realize that nothing belongs to her anymore and she belongs to everything.

Liesel shrugged away entirely from the crowd and entered the tide of Jews, weaving through them till she grabbed hold of his arm with her left hand. His face fell on her. It reached down as she tripped, and the Jew,the nasty Jew, helped her up. It took all of his strength.

Somewhere in all the snow, she could see her broken heart, in two pieces.

Just be patient, she told herself, and with the mounting pages, the strength of her writing fist grew.