“I’ve come to believe that until I really examine my life I won’t be able to accept it, and either apologize or be grateful for everything in it . . .
“There are things in this world that no human being should be able to endure. We should die of heartbreak, but we do not. Instead, we are forced to survive, to bear witness.”
― The Good Father
― The Good Father
“Someone had told her once that mothers existed to blunt the existential loneliness of being a person. If that was true then her biggest maternal responsibility was simply companionship. You bring a child into this fractious, chaotic world out of the heat of your womb, and then spend the next ten years walking beside them while they figure out how to be a person.”
― Before the Fall
― Before the Fall
“Choosing to love—despite all the ways that people let you down, and disappear, and break your heart. Knowing everything we know about how hard life is and choosing to love, anyway.. That’s not weakness, that’s courage.”
― Things You Save in a Fire
― Things You Save in a Fire
“Great meals rarely start at points that all look like beginnings. They usually pick up where something else leaves off. This is how most of the best things are made - imagine if the world had to begin from scratch each dawn: a tree would never grow, nor would we ever get to see the etchings of gentle rings on a clamshell... Meals' ingredients must be allowed to topple into one another like dominos. Broccoli stems, their florets perfectly boiled in salty water, must be simmered with olive oil and eaten with shaved Parmesan on toast; their leftover cooking liquid kept for the base for soup, studded with other vegetables, drizzled with good olive oil, with the rind of the Parmesan added for heartiness. This continuity is the heart and soul of cooking.”
― An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace
― An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace
“If writers wrote as carelessly as some people talk, then adhasdh asdglaseuyt[bn[ pasdlgkhasdfasdf.”
― Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid
― Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid
Books on the Nightstand
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A group to discuss books and topics mentioned on Books on the Nightstand, a blog and podcast about books and reading.
Kendra’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Kendra’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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