Modesty always false modesty. A haughty modesty.

…to lean towards beauty manifested in twenty-six shades of green.

…like a shepherd with his flock, Candide stays on course.

Why then did he leave it to us as dream.

Undeniable is the truth of a last reader.

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings.

…we imagine ourselves just a little wiser.

Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny offer a riveting intimacy…

As the worshipper kneels to pray and the treasure-hunter kneels down to open a hidden drawer, the narrator gathers Flaubert.

…to make eye contact with outsiders to broaden our compassion for the human experience

…and set great expectations of a culture and a nation.

We long for her not to shatter the town.

…because her grandmother had “fishy” dreams and nobody else was confessing

We absorb balance and goodness and look for his look-alike in our neighborhood.

we, the readers, await the realization of wrongdoing

…without calling herself victim, and him villain.

The family story ends unsentimentally.

It’s hard to miss his disquiet with status.

…how to incorporate gossip…how to avoid sociological treatment and retain a sense of judgment.

…to nurture his capacity to see the world askew.