Darya Silman

“Isn’t a novel just a bunch of short stories tied together?” “Ah, how I wish it were so, George. Think of it this way. A novel is a marriage. A series of short stories is a bunch of one-night stands. The latter might always keep you active, but you wouldn’t call the sum total of all that bedhopping a relationship.”
― Jo Boyle, The Space She Made for Me: A Collection of Sapphic Short Stories

“It is estimated that the Jewish population in the country was about 210,000 immediately before the German occupation, though this figure may be a significant underestimate, not taking into account many unregistered Jewish refugees from Poland and elsewhere. About 8,500 Jews were able to flee east into Soviet Russia before the arrival of the Germans, and between 3,500 and 5,000 either escaped from the ghettos and concentration camps or survived to the end of the war. The rest – at least 196,500, and according to some estimates as many as 254,000 – were killed. The great majority were slaughtered by the Einsatzgruppen and their local paramilitary helpers in the first months that followed the German invasion.”
― Prit Buttar, Centuries Will Not Suffice: A History of the Lithuanian Holocaust

“But trying to be a good mother may be as distant from being a good mother as trying to have a good time is from truly having one.”
― Lionel Shriver, We Need to Talk About Kevin

“If you weren’t there during one of those firefights you wouldn’t be able to get your head around it. Hell, I was in plenty of firefights, and I’m not sure I know what went on over there. The VC understood us better than we did them, but nobody’s got a lock on the whole story. Certainly not a bunch of drunk old grunts.”
― Nancy Stroer, Playing Army