Quotes from Laurie Frankel

people often are, even smart people who read—but it is okay because librarians have witchlike librarian magic to pick the right book for you.

You wouldn't be weird. You would be you in a dress. Smart, sweet, kind, funny you in a dress. It would be okay.

We don't need something to have happened to talk about it, though. Teenage girls don't get enough credit for this, their ability to see the potential import of everything, no matter how insignificant it seems, and analyze it endlessly. It's written off—we're written off—as silly, but it's the opposite. We understand instinctively that change is slow. If you're not paying attention, you'll miss it.

I don't mean you inspire people with how brave you are or any bullshit like that. I mean you are mindful, and mindful is contagious. You have perspective, so the people around you seek some too. Your effort is apparent, which reminds people of its virtue and necessity.

He could say it,' Roo explained, and his mother was surprised to hear his voice, 'and it wouldn't matter. For just a minute, it was like we didn't all have to be carrying around this crazy secret.' Rosie and Penn found themselves looking at Ben as if he were the one who could tell them whether all this was true or just boyish bullshittery. 'Secrets are heavy things,' he said, absolving neither his brothers nor his parents.

It's irritating when people tell you that you're such good parents you're failing your kid.

If you look closer, if you go slowly, there can be story even without progress or plot, life in small change, like Dante and Beatrice, like fish swimming hard against the current just to stay where they are. They're not getting anywhere, neither Dante nor the fish, but that doesn't mean there isn't effort, growth, triumph, and beautiful poetry. Trust me, stasis is challenging. And challenge is story.

But there was a catalyst, an event, a moment which changed everything and not just for us. This is good for storytelling but bad for decision making, and it is frightening to look back and realize, were it not for that moment, all of our lives would have been so different. maybe that's revisionist history. Maybe it's me making origin myths. But I can't shake the conviction that Jason's boyfriend's friend's ex-boyfriend's girlfriend changed the world.

This is a medical issue, but mostly it's a cultural issue. It's a social issue and an emotional issue and a family dynamic issue and a community issue. Maybe we need to medically intervene so Poppy doesn't grow a beard. Or maybe the world needs to learn to love a person with a beard who goes by "she" and wears a skirt.

She knew that what came out of kids was often terrifying, but its coming out, rather than staying inside, was the happy ending.