The Downstairs Girl, written by Stacey Lee
Race and gender. Loyalty and betrayal. Poverty and wealth. Respect and scandal. Notoriety and anonymity. Danger and security. Love and loss. Submission and defiance. This story has a little of everything.
p. 266, An anxious mind makes lions of tumbleweeds. Live in the present, not in the future.
p. 313, Like a candle that can light a thousand more without shortening its own life, appreciation is a gift that, when given, can set the whole world aglow. Do your part in passing it along.
p. 349, The biggest threats are the ones we fail to acknowledge.
Making Love Last Forever, written by Gary Smalley
Addressing our own anger, dealing with our expectations that don't sync with reality, not hinging our happiness solely on the state of our marriage, learning healthier ways to communicate, and recognizing the benefits in being wired differently than our spouses are just some of the topics addressed in this book about marriage.
p. 20, Actually, anger is a secondary emotion, not a primary feeling. It arises out of fear, frustration, hurt, or some combination of these three.
p. 71, The wider the gap between what we expect and the reality of what we experience, the greater the potential for discouragement and fatigue.
p. 133, How do we build better connections with others? Through shared experiences, intimate conversations, meaningful touch, and - one of the best ways I've discovered - shared crises.
p. 217, Its been extremely helpful to me to understand that whenever I'm in conflict with someone, one or two things are occurring: Someone's feelings aren't being valued and understood or someone's needs are not being valued and met.
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, written by Mary Roach
This book addresses everything from human crash test dummies to decapitation to cannibalism for medicinal purposes to the decomposition of a body and more. Occasionally disturbing, often witty, and always interesting.
p. 195, It is astounding to me, and achingly sad, that with eighty thousand people on the waiting list for donated hearts and livers and kidneys, with sixteen a day dying there on that list, that more than half of the people in the position H's family was in will say no, will choose to burn those organs or let them rot. We abide the surgeon's scalpel to save our own lives, our loved ones' lives, but not to save a stranger's life. H has no heart, but heartless is the last thing you'd call her.
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