I really admire Harrison, doing what he did for so long. And he said he didn’t like needles, yet over eleven hundred times he let himself be poked.
“Figuring out when humans began to count systematically, with purpose, is not easy.”
Empire of the Sum: The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator, by Keith Houston
“Harry Feiffer sat out in the cool night air on the verandah of his fifth floor apartment looking at the harbour.”
The Hatchet Man, by William Marshall
“Among the many problems which beset the novelist, not the least weighty is the choice of the moment at which to begin his novel.”
The Edwardians by Vita Sackville-West
I also like the Author’s Note: “No character in this book is wholly fictitious.”
This book was written in 1930, but set in 1905, and what I found very interesting was that the first chapter in particular almost perfectly described the country house practices in the film Gosford Park. Like even descriptions of the characters were similar. I am really curious if Julian Fellowes was familiar with this book when he wrote the script.
“As far as the foot soldiers were concerned, the other side could have the damned town.”
The State of Jones: The Small Southern County That Seceded from the Confederacy, by Sally Jenkins and John Stauffer
You can’t know space unless you were born there.
Worlds by Joe Haldeman
I’ve been re-reading a lot of “classic” science fiction in the last few months and this is part of that trend.
Getting a weird vibe from seeing “future” dates that are now in the past.
“Her name was Rhea.”
The Seventh Bride, by T. Kingfisher
Is that a good one? I really like T. Kingfisher.
“The rats are like fingers.”
The House of Last Resort, by Christopher Golden
Yes, I enjoyed The Seventh Bride.
Back in play:
“When Lee Newland spied the plane hovering just above his head that afternoon, he was surprised by how low it was flying.”
Fire on the Track: Betty Robinson and the Triumph of the Early Olympic Women, by Roseanne Montillo.
Call me Ishmael.
^ Reading The Great Gatsby, huh?
“When those men rode down to the fording place last night, I thought us done for.”
Inland by Tea Obreht
“When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow”.
To Kill a Mockingbird , by Harper Lee
“She never listens to me anymore.”
Skin Folk: Stories, by Nalo Hopkinson. (Note that this is from the first story in the collection, “Riding the Red”.)
“I am willing to think ill of anyone, so I suppose I have an open mind.”
Everywhere an Oink Oink: An Embittered, Dyspeptic, and Accurate Report of Forty Years in Hollywood, by David Mamet
“I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites.”
The Murderbot Diaries
(first book: All Systems Red)
“Swill! Filth! Horse piss!” yelled the ragged man as he threw his bowl onto the stone floor."
Tom O’Bedlam’s Night Out and Other Strange Excursions by Darrell Schweitzer. (The above quote is from the first story, “Tom O’Bedlam’s Night Out”.)
"Because he had enjoyed almost every advantage since birth, one of the few privileges denied to Benjamin Rask was that of a heroic rise: his was not a story of resilience and perseverance or the tale of an unbreakable will forging a golden destiny for itself out of little more than dross.”
Trust by Hernan Diaz
“The interior of the Broadway theater shifts and blurs in Lydia’s vision as the curtain falls for the interval, but she keeps her mental focus long enough to finish translating the last few lines of the first act for the cultural attache’.”
Drunk on All Your Strange New Words, by Eddie Robson.
“The book was thick and black and covered with dust.”
Possession: A Romance, by A. S. Byatt