summer reading wisdom

I read a few books this summer that I'd like to share with you -
a regional novel by an author local to where I live now,
and the sequel to one of my favorite pieces of juvenile fiction.

I highly recommend both of them,
but rather than giving you a report,
I'm going to let the books speak for themselves.

from Driftless by David Rhodes
all of the following quotes are words from Pastor Winnie Smith speaking at a funeral

"What I do know is that God loves us, completely, every one of us all the time, and upon that single fact the hundred billion stars are hung. That love is both the source and the cause of all life."

"At moments like these it is hard not to wish for an end to suffering - a cancellation of it. But friends, a life without grief is hardly worth living, and someone who is not willing to give his or her life for something worth more than mere living is hardly alive."

"The things that wound us are the most important things we know..."

"In our lives, we make only a few important decisions - some of us only one or two - and the rest of our time is spent living them out.  But what should we decide here today?  How can we bear the responsibility of running our own lives when something like this happens to us."

from After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick

"A big part of why we're here is to support the people around us."

"Journeys aren't pointless if they come with a round-trip ticket."

"There's no such thing as a maybe-finish line. There's no such thing as an almost-finish line. All there is is a finish line."