“At the height of the long wet summer of the Seventy-Seventh year of Sendovani, the Thiefmaker of Camorr paid a sudden and unannounced visit to the Eyeless Priest at the temple of Perelandro, desperately hoping to sell him the Lamora boy.”
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
“It’s another Iraqi town, nameless to the Marines racing down the main drag in Humvees, blowing it to pieces.”
Generation Kill by Evan Wright
“Show me the sandals first,” I said.
Liberty’s Daughter, by Naomi Kritzer
“What am I doing?”
And Then? And Then? What Else?, by Daniel Handler
“Do the mountains and the blue Bavarian twilight cause the drum march to rattle into existence–is the music an emanation of the mountains?–or are the peaks and valleys hauled into view by the march of drums?”
“Broadsword Calling Danny Boy”: Watching Where Eagles Dare, by Geoff Dyer
“I learned about the death of my uncle Jake in a deeply unexpected way, which was from the CNBC Squawk Box morning show.”
Starter Villain by John Scalzi
“Those of you who are familiar with the events that occurred during the latter part of Sherlock Holmes’ life, after he had left our old lodgings at 221B Baker Street, will know that after giving up his career as a private consulting agent, he moved to Sussex where he took up beekeeping as a part-time livelihood.”
Sherlock Holmes and the Lady in Black by June Thomson
“The average human lifespan is absurdly, terrifyingly, insultingly short… Assuming you live to be eighty, you’ll have had about four thousand weeks.”
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Managment for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
Prologue:
When David and Ida Eisenhower moved their growing family to Abilene, Kansas, in 1898, the town seemed a million miles from a swiftly modernizing world.
Chapter One:
Although the nation — and, in fact, the world ---- was undergoing a major change the way people travel, for his first trip east of the Mississippi River in 1910, young Dwight Eisenhower had little choice in how he’d get to West Point, just north of New York City; like most Americans of the era, he took a train.
Ike’s Road Trip - How Eisenhower’s 1919 Convoy Paved the Way for the Roads We Travel by Brian C. Black, 2024 GODINE, Boston, Massachusetts
The largest explosion in the history of the planet took place at 7.15 a.m. local time in the Marshall Islands, out in the vast expanse of the Central Pacific Ocean.
Two Minutes to Midnight: 1953 – The Year of Living Dangerously by Roger Hermiston
The wind blustered through the gray dawn.
'Ware Hawk, by Andre Norton
“The dog shows up at the mint-green house on the edge of the woods a month before the monster arrives, his coat shiny as a new copper penny.”
Wild Spaces, by S. L. Coney
“The woman was back again.”
A Little Fantasy Everywhere, edited by Dina A. Leacock (Note that this is an anthology, and the sentence is from “A Normal Life”, by Jill Hand.)
“And I suppose this is the approach-course,” said Charles Malcolm. “Full of natural hazards.”
His wife, Celia, replied with dignity: “That is the tennis-court.” Charles made a derisive noise. “All it needs,” she said, eyeing him, “is a little levelling.”
Footsteps in the Dark, by Georgette Heyer.
“I’m playing trombone in a little five-piece combo at Benny’s Bar and Grill when it happens.”
Another Time: An Anthology of Time Travel Stories 1942-1960, edited by Jean-Paul Garnier. (This is from the first story, “And the Band Played On” by C. Shook.)
“The beach was just the way I loved it: empty, its waters comfortable and clear, a few sand crabs dashing around.”
Broken Places & Outer Spaces: Finding Creativity in the Unexpected, by Nnedi Okorafor.
“This stupid peace and quiet is killing me!”
Rockin’ Around the Chickadee, by Donna Andrews
The slave who came to fetch me on that unseasonably warm spring morning was a young man, hardly more than twenty.
Roman Blood, by Steven Saylor
Navy term for civilians. 
“You can still change your mind, you know.”
Let It Crow! Let It Crow! Let It Crow!, by Donna Andrews.
“Those little bastards were hiding out there in the tall grass.”
James by Percival Everett
“Although the museum was well known to be a seat of enourmous learning, its foundations had begun to sag”.
I’m trying to get into horror books after watching The Haunting of Hill House and finding it sub-par. I did really like Kate Siegal as Theo though and her relationship with that asian woman was pretty cute.
Welcome, @Cee! You say you don’t like horror books?
The Bird’s Nest is good so far, it’s just that, horror in written form, it seems less exciting to me. I do wanna read some Stephan King books after I read some more of Shirley though. I definately prefer watching horror movies though, it seems. I also like cosmic horror like the the Welcome to Nightvale podcast and can see myself enjoying those books.
I have a copy of House of Leaves that I’ve only read a bit of, but it seems good so far.
“Titus woke up five minutes before his alarm went off at 7:00 A.M. and made himself a cup of coffee in the Keurig Darlene had gotten him last Christmas.”
All The Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
“Wolcum be thou hevene king,
Wolcum, born in one morning,
Wolcum for whom we sall sing!”
A Christmas Sourcebook, edited by Mary Ann Simcoe. (The above is from an untitled poem by an anonymous poet.)
“Here’s two dollars and fifty cents–in gold, George M.”
Reincarnations by Harry Turtledove. (Note that this is from the first story in this collection, “The Haunted Biscuspid”.)
“The e-mail was from Iris Chang, author of the groundbreaking bestseller The Rape of Nanking.”
Flyboys,James Bradley.