if you do not learn to defend yourself, you give power to your enemies. And with that power, they’ll make decisions on your behalf. You put your fate in the hands of others.

Because the world had decided that to be soft was to be weak, even though in Joan’s experience being soft and flexible was always more durable than being hard and brittle. Admitting you were afraid always took more guts than pretending you weren’t. Being willing to make a mistake got you further than never trying. The world had decided that to be fallible was weak. But we are all fallible. The strong ones are the ones who accept it.

At the Museum of Literature, Zoe encounters an eccentric staff in the Books of Dubious Origins department and must discover the truth about her powers and heritage.

That was the way of grief, I was realizing. It was a barrage of pain that was so unbearable that it made you numb. And then out of nowhere, something made you feel again and the cycle started over from the beginning.

I realized that it didn’t matter how perfect I was. I was never going to be good enough because they didn’t want me to be perfect or extraordinary. They wanted me to be invisible.

My magic, which I had been waiting to feel surge through me as a tide, remained dormant. It lurked like a skeleton, hiding beneath my skin, marrow brimming with untapped power.

People aren’t so bad. They’re just wounded little kids trying to heal.

Heck, I’ve lost my temper a few times. Also, I can be a bit too blunt, and excuse it by saying I’m just an honest person, but if I’m truly being honest, sometimes blunt is just mean. Honesty can be an excuse for bullying.

What chilling mystery awaits the people of Tokyo in these strange houses.

No one called Marty Walsh “Farty” but me, the only reason being that anyone who talked out of his ass as much as he did deserved a name to match.

My baba says the only society worth living in is one where everyone has access to food, shelter, clean water, and health services.

The magic itself was not evil. It was what you did with it, how you shaped the tools given to your use.

As Mark contemplated his future — his legacy and the coming year’s personal challenge — I think he came to this dark conclusion: if Trump can do it, so could he.

After all, not only does Mark now have Trump’s playbook, he owns the tools and sets the rules. And he has something no one else has, the ability to control the algorithm with zero transparency or oversight.

When you’re too busy to think about your life, you’re able to put off proactive decisions under the guise of responding to what seems urgent. You think you’re doing all the right things, but really you’re just keeping busy.

The final book of the Fallen Gods trilogy by Hannah Kaner.

She came to us as any apocalypse does: slowly at first, and then all at once.

It occurred to him that a spell to make one’s enemies into idiots via the power of breasts might be immensely helpful. Then again, it might not be a spell. It might have only been the breasts.

“Pain isn’t a competition,” I assure him. “There’s always enough to go around.”

And what was a home but somewhere you wouldn’t have to feel quite so alone.