Bajir

“He stared ahead vacantly, down the chilly streets of that desolate cow town of learning. “You know why I love games? For the same reason I love literature. In a game . . . in a good poem or story? Death is the mother of beauty.” He stopped and twisted to face me. “Know what I’m sayin’?”
― Richard Powers, Playground

“The most unfortunate thing about being an atheist wasn’t the loss of God and all the comfort and reassurance of God—no small things—but the loss of a vital human vocabulary. Grace, charity, transcendence: I felt them as surely as any believer, even if we differed on the ultimate cause, and yet I had no right words for them.”
― Joshua Ferris, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour

“Don’t get me wrong—I enjoy my real life, but I feel about it much the way I do about New York City, my chosen and adored home: I’m always happy to leave, and I’m always happy to come back.”
― Jennifer Egan, The Best American Short Stories 2014