Joan Winnek

“I sometimes worried that the more instinctive forms of love were not so available to you. That easy maternal devotion, for instance, that seemed so natural in some women, and which, as we spoke of from time to time, was something you had to struggle to feel. [p. 189]”
― Sue Miller, The Distinguished Guest

“He didn't understand how sadness came so easily to people. For him it was like a pile of rocks that had to be moved one at a time. Just thinking about it made him tired.”
― Nell Freudenberger, The Dissident

“I tried to talk about it to Lily, to make her see that for once, I'd earned a feeling. [p. 174]”
― Sue Miller, Inventing the Abbots and Other Stories

“To say it was a beautiful day would not begin to explain it. It was that day when the end of summer intersects perfectly with the start of fall .... [p.218 ff.]”
― Ann Patchett, Truth & Beauty