Emily Henry has become one of my auto-buy authors. Meaning, when Emily Henry publishes a book, I’m going to buy it. Sometimes I wait a bit, for the paperback edition or for the hardcover to be on sale. Or I wait for a promotion or sale like those periodic free shipping days offered by Bookshop.org. 

But, even though I buy Emily Henry’s novels I don’t read them right away. It’s kind of like saving the best for last. (Am I the only one who eats the cake part of a cake first and then eats the frosting part last?) 

So although I know Funny Story was published last year, and I still have to buy Ms. Henry’s most recent novel (Great Big Beautiful Life), I just finished reading it. And this week, I wanted to share some of my favorite parts with you. 

“Still, a chorus of ridiculous little voices rises as I approach, cries of ‘Miss Daffy!’ and other adorable mispronunciations of my name. In my heart, it feels like little kernels are bursting into fluffy blossoms of popcorn.”

“It’s funny: As a kid, I had no idea how to interact with other kids. I felt most at home with Mom and her friends. But as an adult, I find kids so much easier to understand.
“They say how they feel, and they show it too. There are fewer ulterior motives and written rules. Silences aren’t unbearably awkward, and abrupt segues to different subjects are the norm. If you want to be friends with someone, you just ask, and if they don’t want, to, they’ll probably just tell you.”

“ ‘ How did it start?’ he asks. ‘The library thing.’
“ I cast my mind back, to before grad school, before undergrad even, all the way to the first moment I remember loving a story. Feeling like I was living it. Being, even as a child, bowled over by how something imaginary could become real, could wring every emotion from me or make me homesick for places I’d never been.”

“ ‘I have noticed you tend to do well with the over-seventy set,’ I allow. ‘Then again, you’re not so bad with the under-seventy set.’

“He rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling. ‘I guess it’s nice being around people who’ve made it through shit, you know?’ He shrugs. ‘Like probably all their worst mistakes are behind them, and they know who they are now, and how to be who they want to be.” 

“’The library is, like, the single best cross section of humanity,’ I tell him. ‘You meet all kinds of interesting people.’”

“All those moments throughout the days, weeks, months that don’t get marked on calendars with hand-drawn stars or little stickers.
“Those are the moments that make a life.
“Not grand gestures, but mundane details that, over time, accumulate until you have a home, instead of a house.
“The things that matter.
“The things I can’t stop longing for.
“There’s only one place that feeling exists for me, only one person with whom I belong.” 

“ ‘You?’ she says. ‘You, my girl, are whoever you decide to be. But I hope you always keep some piece of that girl who sat by the window, hoping for the best. Life’s short enough without us talking ourselves out of hope and trying to dodge every bad feeling. Sometimes you have to push through the discomfort, instead of running.’”

“… I’d wanted so badly to escape myself, my life, that I forgot about all the beautiful little pieces of it I’ve been acquiring like sea glass these last few months.” 

“But if I’ve learned anything from parenting, it’s that it matters way more that you’re present than that you’re perfect. Just be here, really be here, and the kids will love it.” 

“… sometimes the unexpected is better than what you plan.
“The same universe that dispassionately takes things away can bring you things you weren’t imaginative enough to dream up.”

Please note: I am including a link to buy the book that I’m highlighting this week. If you use my link, I do make a small commission on your purchase at no additional cost to you. I am working with Bookshop.org which also sends a portion of the profit to support local, independent bookstores.