27 Quotes by J. Ryan Stradal

After decades away from the Midwest, she’d forgotten that bewildering generosity was a common regional tic.

As the eastbound flight reached cruising altitude, Cindy opened the latest issue of the Economist – she saved her smarter reading for public situations – when.

What people don’t understand about deer is that they’re vermin. They’re giant, furry cockroaches. They invade a space, reproduce like hell, and eat everything in sight.

Even though she had an overbite and the shakes, she was six feet tall and beautiful, and not like a statue or a perfume advertisement, but in a realistic way, like how a truck or a pizza is beautiful at the moment you want it most.

It made hot girls forget you were a dork, which is the point of all music.

Her mother had told her once that the nicest thing you can do for someone is be happy to see them, and Helen thought about that now, as she felt herself smile involuntarily.

And she would pray for guidance, but she wouldn’t ask the Lord forgiveness for swearing at her husband. That was gonna stand for now.

What an honor to live in a part of the world that loves good old-fashioned baking.

When Lars first held her, his heart melted over her like butter on warm bread, and he would never get it back. When mother and baby were asleep in the hospital room, he went out to the parking lot, sat in his Dodge Omni, and cried like a man who had never wanted anything in his life until now.