“We want to imagine that people are consistent, steady, stable. We define who they are, create descriptions to lock them on a page, divide them up by their likes, talents, beliefs. Then we pretend some—perhaps most—are better than we are, because they stick to their definitions, while we never quite fit ours. Truth is, people are as fluid as time is. We adapt to our situation like water in a strangely shaped jug, though it might take us a little while to ooze into all the little nooks. Because we adapt, we sometimes don’t recognize how twisted, uncomfortable, or downright wrong the container is that we’ve been told to inhabit.”
― Tress of the Emerald Sea
― Tress of the Emerald Sea
“I take a longer look at the words on her headstone.
Brave, kind, loyal, sweet, loving, graceful, strong, thoughtful, funny, genuine, hopeful, playful, insightful, and on and on…
Was she, though? Was she any of those things? The words make me angry. I can’t look at them any longer.
Why do we romanticize the dead? Why can’t we be honest about them?”
― I'm Glad My Mom Died
Brave, kind, loyal, sweet, loving, graceful, strong, thoughtful, funny, genuine, hopeful, playful, insightful, and on and on…
Was she, though? Was she any of those things? The words make me angry. I can’t look at them any longer.
Why do we romanticize the dead? Why can’t we be honest about them?”
― I'm Glad My Mom Died
“In the dresser there are two sets of rosary beads, a Brigid's cross, and an iron pendant on a chain. And then there is her, more worthy of worship, with a knee on either side of my hips”
― Sunburn
― Sunburn
“My own feelings are a hedge of briars that I can’t bring myself to touch. There are so many unhappy people, I just don’t want to find out that I am one of them. They walk among us, they touch you, and you become them. Introspection is like cyanide. Life is fine this way, ignorance is easy, I do what is easy. Doesn’t that make the most sense?”
― Sunburn
― Sunburn
“Perhaps she has already forgotten what it is to only get glimpses of independence. Those glimpses mean everything to me. Feeling adult is everything to me. It gives me a sense of self, which is important, I think. Recently I have really wanted to figure out who I am. There must be more to me than being Martin Buke's best friend or one of the girls or the Nolan's daughter. I'm just not sure what that is.”
― Sunburn
― Sunburn
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