“You can be happy about a lot of things in your life, yet just one thing can make you miserable.”

It was like when you make a move in chess and just as you take your finger off the piece, you see the mistake you've made, and there's this panic because you don't know yet the scale of disaster you've left yourself open to.

An emotional story of love, fate, and dreams. Well developed characters. A gripping story. Twists. Just wonderful!

A haunting, gorgeous story of love and loss amid the political upheaval of Tehran in 1953 (with sections in modern-day Massachusetts). You‘ll need a lot of tissues for this one!!

“At the studio, they talk about desire, how much it is like hunger, how love is as important to art as revolution.”

This book charmed me completely! The turns it takes were surprising and delighted me. A perfect summer read.

“Kissing your hand may make you feel very very good but a diamond and safire [sic] bracelet lasts forever.”

Both funny and moving. Love linked short stories. Benefit of cohesive stories but enjoy dipping in and out of lives.

“Paris is always a good idea.”

Who like it more, me or the gnome? I'm going to say me, but he is looking pretty happy so perhaps he enjoyed it too.

Absolutely lyrical. A magical portrait of Jerusalem from the time of Turkish occupation through the 1970s. Ending was a little disappointing--rushed and a bit unsatisfying--but the rest of the book was so exquisite I still rate it as an amazing read.

What a magical story! Love how historical Bess Houdini is interwoven with a more fanciful storyline. Terrifically interesting and fun to read.

The joy of this book is tiny bite-sized chapters that gave me food for thought while also providing concrete suggestions on how to temper my own feelings of inadequacy and insecurity. DeAngelis uses lots of examples from her own life, so this often reads like memoir, but her style is so inviting and light that you glide through the book. This is a book I will refer to again and again. Should be required reading for all creative types.

How can a novel about death be so uplifting? So heartening! And a perfect ending.

"And I thought then that I knew what they were looking for. I thought: They have misplaced tomorrow and are looking for it. And the search is ruining today."

The writing in this book is so lush and lyrical that I simply wanted to swim in the sentences. Never have I read anyone who so successfully wrote about music in a way that I could hear it. The story is downright magical!