“And remember,” the voice said, “what is laughter but a moment of release where pain and memory are washed away?
![Loading... Loading...](https://cdn.statically.io/img/s.gr-assets.com/assets/loading_big-5baaead7062b26142a19d19a9bccf5c2.gif)
![C.J. Box](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1294305640i/314195._UX200_CR0,31,200,200_.jpg)
“In his experience, character wasn't relegated to any particular political party over the other.”
― Wolf Pack
― Wolf Pack
![Thucydides](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1206544282i/957._UX200_CR0,73,200,200_.jpg)
“For these reasons or reasons very like them he was killed
who, of all the Hellenes in my time, least deserved to come
to so miserable an end, since the whole of his life had been devoted
to the study and the practice of virtue.”
― History of the Peloponnesian War
who, of all the Hellenes in my time, least deserved to come
to so miserable an end, since the whole of his life had been devoted
to the study and the practice of virtue.”
― History of the Peloponnesian War
![George Eliot](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1596202587i/173._UX200_CR0,2,200,200_.jpg)
“Who knows that about anybody?”
― Daniel Deronda
― Daniel Deronda
![Louise Penny](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1591027995i/194243._UX200_CR0,50,200,200_.jpg)
“Approaching Em’s cottage, especially at night, always enchanted him. It was like walking into those fairy tales he’d read by flashlight under his bedcovers, full of rose-covered cottages and small stone bridges, glowing hearths and content couples hand in hand. His relieved father had thought he was reading Playboy but instead he was doing something infinitely more pleasurable and dangerous. He was dreaming of the day he’d create this fairy-tale world for himself, and he’d succeeded, at least in part. He had himself become a fairy. And as he looked at Em’s cottage, its buttery light beaconing, he knew he’d walked right into the book he’d used to comfort himself when the world seemed cold and hard and unfair. Now he smiled and walked toward the house, carrying his Christmas Eve offering.”
― A Fatal Grace
― A Fatal Grace
![Becky Albertalli](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1392414949i/7579036._UX200_CR0,50,200,200_.jpg)
“Anderson’s words hang in the air the whole way home.
Kate, I like him. I think I really, really like him.
I swear, every friend bone in my body is screaming for me to suck the tension out of this situation. It would be incredibly easy. I could do it in one sentence.
“Andy,” I say softly.
Andy, this Matt thing—you should go for it.
I could tell him I’m not interested in Matt. I could offer to be Andy’s wingwoman. I mean, I can’t make Matt Olsson like boys if he doesn’t, but at least it could stop feeling like a competition. Everything could just be normal. Like a normal crush and a normal lovesick Andy and a normal best friend Kate.
The only problem is, I don’t feel normal. Not about Matt.
“I think I like him, too,” I say. I barely recognize my own voice. It’s soft but certain. Like maybe my voice knew how I felt before my brain did. “I really like him.”
―
Kate, I like him. I think I really, really like him.
I swear, every friend bone in my body is screaming for me to suck the tension out of this situation. It would be incredibly easy. I could do it in one sentence.
“Andy,” I say softly.
Andy, this Matt thing—you should go for it.
I could tell him I’m not interested in Matt. I could offer to be Andy’s wingwoman. I mean, I can’t make Matt Olsson like boys if he doesn’t, but at least it could stop feeling like a competition. Everything could just be normal. Like a normal crush and a normal lovesick Andy and a normal best friend Kate.
The only problem is, I don’t feel normal. Not about Matt.
“I think I like him, too,” I say. I barely recognize my own voice. It’s soft but certain. Like maybe my voice knew how I felt before my brain did. “I really like him.”
―
A.D.’s 2023 Year in Books
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