“After she’d grown up, Ruth Bie couldn’t remember meeting Franklin Delano Roosevelt or patting the dog on his lap.”
Designing Disability: Symbols, Space, and Society, by Elizabeth Guffey
“They say when trouble comes close ranks, and so the white people did.”
Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys
“If you happened to find yourself on the banks of the Ohio River on a particular afternoon in the spring of 1806–somewhere just to the north of Wheeling, West Virginia, say–you would probably have noticed a strange makeshift craft drifting lazily down the river.”
The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
As darkness fell on Saturday, June 24, 1950, it was “party time” in Seoul, capital of the fledgling Republic of South Korea.
The Darkest Summer: Pusan and Inchon 1950, by Bill Sloan
The autumn of 1955 was like the other autumns that I could remember in my short life.
Snake Pilot: Flying the Cobra Attack Helicopter in Vietnam, by Randy R Zahn
“The coat was advertised in Sunday’s paper.”
Junior Miss, by Sally Benson
“A strong tempest swirled in as my railcar approached Valdegeld University Platform.”
The Mimicking of Known Successes, by Malka Older
“Back, back, back…seek out the roots of the fairy tale and we’re hacking one thorny hedge after another, all the way back to the Stone Age.”
The Fairy Tellers: A Journey into the Secret History of Fairy Tales, by Nicholas Jubber
“The front door opened, and I heard the stamp of the FBI agent’s feet on the doormat.”
Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson
“When I got the wish list of things I could see from the collection I was completely overwhelmed.”
Know the Past, Find the Future: The New York Public Library at 100, edited by Caro Llewellyn. (Note that this is a collection of essays about items in this library’s collection, and the above first essay is by Laurie Anderson, who writes about the the Declaration of Independence.)
“As the detective made his way along a bustling 14th Street in New York City on that late December day in 1910, he was confident that, after a frustrating month in Los Angeles, he was at least closing in on one murderer.”
American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, and the Birth of Hollywood, by Howard Blum.
“We were aboard Taz’s Revenge, headed back to the Gene.”
Wise Guys by Jerry Boyd (Bob & Nikki Book 51)
In the afternoon on Le Loi Street, uniformed children spill from school yards like flocks of freed birds, swinging backpacks, running or on bicycles, the boys in white shirts and shorts, the girls with their long black hair and the white flaps of their ao dai flying.
Hue 1968, by Mark Bowden
“I honestly don’t know why I started keeping all this stuff!”
I’m Told I Had a Good Time by Micky Dolenz
A massive (500 pages, 11lbs) coffee-table book full of photos, clippings, press promos, memorabilia, etc. from his childhood, his days as Circus Boy and on to The Monkees. Quite a volume.
“The train tore along with an angry, irregular rhythm.”
Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
“Science fiction is the pulsing heart of humanity.”
Damn You, Entropy: 1,001 of the Greatest Science Fiction Quotes, edited by Guy P. Harrison.
“I knew with certainty that I would never be a doctor.”
When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi.
“Amelia,” said Miss Prunella Pendleham, “I have received a most impertinent letter this morning.”
Alfred Hitchcock’s Supernatural Tales of Terror and Suspense, edited by Henri Veit. (Note that this is from the first story, “The Triumph of Death”, by H. Russell Wakefield.)
“Viet Nhi had resigned herself, early on, to not liking people.”
Navigational Entanglements, by Aliette de Bodard
When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
The night clouds were closing in on the salt licks east of the oxbow lakes along the folds in the earth beyond the Yalobusha River.
—Isabel Wilkinson, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration
“Call me Ishmael.”
I was tickled to discover that I happen to be reading Moby Dick for the first time at the same age (58) Captain Ahab is in the book.
“Most of us are used to the idea of having five senses.”
Presence: The Strange Science and True Stories of the Unseen Other, by Ben Alderson-Day, PhD.
“I first met Dean not long after my wife and I split up.”
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
“If you’re going to visit Tom Hartwig, you will have to drive past the cannon.”
Visiting Tom: A Man, A Highway, and the Road to Roughneck Grace, by Michael Perry
“Forget great. The Great Gatsby is the greatest - even if you didn’t think so when you had to read it in high school. I didn’t think so back then either.”
So We Read On by Maureen Corrigan
“Perched on a rocky hilltop in the Marah Valley of Afghanistan, Matt Secor certainly looked the part of U.S. Special Forces.”
Warplane by Hal Sundt
“The young man woke up angry. The window was closed.”
Elleander Morning by Jerry Yulsman
“An old familiar dread was waiting for me this morning. I couldn’t tell where it came from.”
The Morningside by Tea Obreht