Sometimes people aren't nice,' I began. 'Then why are you always telling me to be nice?' Because someone has to break the cycle. Kindness can be cont… - Heidi Pitlor

Mom’s got this secret fear that if you don’t control your life, if you don’t control your man, he will eventually destroy you.

Furthermore, in a new study reported in the journal Science, subjects who read Alice Munro stories — specifically, the collection Too Much Happiness — demonstrated sharper social and psychological insight than those who did not.

We — editors, writers, teachers, publishers — need to do whatever we can to enliven readers, to help create communities for them if we want to continue to have readers at all. Our independent bookstores are the front lines, and many booksellers are fighting the good fight. Here, books stimulate conversation. Conversation stimulates a sense of community. Listening happens. Thinking. The exchange of thoughts.