“That is what is marvelous about school, she realized: when you are in school, your talents are without number, and your promise is boundless. You ace a math test: you will one day work for NASA. The choir director asks you to sing a solo at the holiday concert: you are the next Mariah Carey. You score a goal, you win a poetry contest, you act in a play. And you are everything at once: actor, astronomer, gymnast, star. But at a certain point, you begin to feel your talents dropping away, like feathers from a molting bird. Cello lessons conflict with soccer practice. There aren't enough spots on the debating team. Calculus remains elusive. Until the day you realize that you cannot think of a single thing you are wonderful at.” SchoolPotentialTalents Book:Ms. Hempel Chronicles Source: Ms. Hempel Chronicles
“How terrible it is to recognize that one’s brilliance rests solely upon the small-mindedness of others.” BrillianceSmall Mindedness Book:Madeleine Is Sleeping Source: Madeleine Is Sleeping
“If you wanted to kidnap someone, what would you use?" she asked Amit. They were lying in bed, with the lights off. To knock them unconscious. So that you could drag them into the back of your van." Chloroform, I guess." Really?" She brightened. It made her happy that the person she was marrying would commit crimes in the same way as she would.” LoveMarriageKidnapping Book:Ms. Hempel Chronicles Source: Ms. Hempel Chronicles
“Heather A. Slomski's stories are downright addictive. I kept promising myself to turn off the light after just one more, and then breaking that promise, beguiled by her cool, measured prose and by the surprises, tensions, and uncanny encounters simmering beneath its elegant surface.” StoriesLightTurnsPromiseSurpriseSurfaceTensionEncountersJust OneProseElegantTurn OffUncannyHeathers Author:Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
“Krys Lee has written a book of unforgettable stories, each one building on the other to create a complex, moving portrait of contemporary Korea and its diaspora. She guides us surely through the fallout of war, immigration, and financial crisis, always alert to the possibility of tenderness, transcendence, and even humor along the way. Lee is a writer who really understands loneliness, but her voice is so appealing, and her perceptions so wise, that we feel all the less lonely for knowing her characters and experiencing their lives.” WayFeelsBookWarCharacterStoriesMovingVoiceKnowingWiseWrittenLonelinessPossibilityBuildingPerceptionLonelyCrisisComplexesFinancialGuidesImmigrationContemporaryTendernessPortraitsTranscendenceKoreaFinancial CrisisUnforgettableDiasporaFallouts Author:Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
“When you are in school, your talents are without number, and your promise is boundless...But at a certain point, you begin to feel your talents dropping away, like feathers from a molting bird.” FeelsSchoolCertainNumbersTalentPromiseBirdFeathersDroppingBoundless Author:Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
“This was the feeling that Ms. Hempel couldn't shake: a conviction that she spent her days among people at the age when they are most purely themselves. How could she not be depleted when she came home, having been exposed for hours, without protection, to all those thrumming radiant selves? Here they were, just old enough to have discovered their souls, but not yet dulled by the ordinary act of survival, not yet practiced in dissembling.” PeopleSoulSelfEnoughFeelingsHomeAgeHoursSurvivalOrdinaryConvictionProtectionShakesExposedRadiant Author:Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
“A deeply felt novel . . . The Story of Forgetting offers us both solace and illumination. Stefan Merrill Block possesses a singular mix of imagination, compassion, and scientific understanding; he is equally gifted at spinning fantastic tales as he is at bringing genetic histories to vivid life.” StoriesFeltUnderstandingImaginationForgetCompassionNovelOffersTalesBlockFantasticGiftedVividSpinningIlluminationSolace Author:Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
