a few tidbits of loveliness from Myla Goldberg's latest

In retrospect Celia realized their friendship had been the first in a long series of misguided chicken-pox parties in which she had attempted through close and repeated contact to catch something wholly incommunicable. page 168-9


The day's dashed hopes had temporarily reduced her to the childish presumption that someone she loved should, in return for that love, be able to read her mind.  page 171