“You don't read Gatsby, I said, to learn whether adultery is good or bad but to learn about how complicated issues such as adultery and fidelity and marriage are. A great novel heightens your senses and sensitivity to the complexities of life and of individuals, and prevents you from the self-righteousness that sees morality in fixed formulas about good and evil.”
― Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
― Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
“I wanted to know what happened when two people felt it. Would it divide the hurt in two, make it lighter to bear, the way feeling someone's joy seemed to double it?”
― The Secret Life of Bees
― The Secret Life of Bees
“Knowing can be a curse on a person's life. I'd traded in a pack of lies for a pack of truth, and I didn't know which one was heavier. Which one took the most strength to carry around? It was a ridiculous question, though, because once you know the truth, you can't ever go back and pick up your suitcase of lies. Heavier or not, the truth is yours now.”
― The Secret Life of Bees
― The Secret Life of Bees
“The world will give you that once in awhile, a brief timeout; the boxing bell rings and you go to your corner, where somebody dabs mercy on your beat-up life.”
― The Secret Life of Bees
― The Secret Life of Bees
“Do not, under any circumstances, belittle a work of fiction by trying to turn it into a carbon copy of real life; what we search for in fiction is not so much reality but the epiphany of truth.”
― Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
― Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
Jewish Historical Fiction
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— last activity Mar 16, 2026 04:08PM
For those that love Jewish historical fiction representating as many cultures, countries, and time periods as we can find.
Cassidy’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Cassidy’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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