Book Quotes

I was reading The Gum Thief when Anna told me about Manless in Montclair. Sister knows best, right? Plus, Anna's friend Laurie also loved the book, so I decided to stop reading what I was reading and get Manless in Montclair from the library and give it a try.

Sadly, I was disappointed. Maybe I've just read too many books lately about women 30 y.o. and older going through a horrible life event or setting out on a self-finding journey and finding The One at the end.

Nonetheless, there were a few lines in the book worth thinking about:

I spent most of my late teens and early twenties moving quickly, eyes tightly shut, through life's numerous rough spots. If you couldn't see your problems, then you didn't have to deal with them. It took Michael's more gradual pace to finally slow me down.

Michael didn't make me whole by "completing me;" he made me whole by believing in me. His love and faith enabled me to begin the work of completing myself.

One does not laugh because one is happy; one is happy because one laughs.

Just living, I thought, could be suffieciently painful. I didn't need to chase any extra heartache from Charlie.

The secret of surviving was to embrace the change instead of running from it, to trust that magic was still possible even though it was sometimes buried under considerable amounts of pain and debris.