The cruelty of strangers never usually upsets me, but the kindness of strangers is oddly devastating.
“She knew it was a strange contradiction, but despite her interest in love, weddings made her uncomfortable. They were too showy, too public. Deep love between two people was a private, wordless endeavor, and to place the lovers in fancy clothes in front of a crowd seemed antithetical to the nature of the thing. No one could see love—this was what Sylvie believed, anyway. It was an internal state. Watching that moment between two lovers felt wrong to her, almost blasphemous.”
― Hello Beautiful
― Hello Beautiful
“Well, if that's suffering, he thinks, let me suffer. Yes. To love whoever I have left. And if ever I lose someone, let me descend into a futile and prolonged rage, yes, despair, wanting to break things, furniture, appliances, wanting to get into fights, to scream, to walk in front of a bus, yes. Let me suffer, please. To love just these few people, to know myself capable of that, I would suffer every day of my life.”
― Intermezzo
― Intermezzo
“The human body was eighty percent water; that meant she was literally made of tears.”
― The Great Alone
― The Great Alone
“what if life is just a collection of essentially unrelated experiences? Why does one thing have to follow meaningfully from another?”
― Intermezzo
― Intermezzo
“It doesn't always work, but I do my best. See what happens. Go on in any case living.”
― Intermezzo
― Intermezzo
Alyssa’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Alyssa’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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