“The little boy named Ulysses Macauley one day stood over the new gopher hole in the backyard of his house on Santa Clara Avenue in Ithaca, California.”
The Human Comedy, by William Saroyan
“What is an anecdote?”
The Oxford Book of Theatrical Anecdotes, edited by Gyles Brandreth.
Sitting on the edge of the circular hole cut in the floor of the mighty four-engine British Halifax bomber, her legs dangling down as though she were a child perched on an adult’s chair, Elżbieta Zawacka – nom-de-guerre ‘Zo’ – considered her likely fate.
Agent Zo: The Untold Story of a Fearless World War II Resistance Fighter, by Clare Mulley
“At the heart of the city of Beijing is an imperial palace, largest in scale and best-preserved in state, amongst all those in present-day China.”
Beijing’s Imperial Palace: The Illustrated Guide to the Architecture, History, and Splendor of the Forbidden City, by Yang Zhigang
“I am not born the way humans are, but there is a beginning.”
A Rover’s Story, by Jasmine Warga.
“The morning was chilly and overcast, with a promise of rain before the day was done.”
Empresses of Seventh Avenue: World War II, New York City, and the Birth of American Fashion, by Nancy MacDonnell
“Sun soaked the city streets, filtered through the office window so that the sign reading, PERRY MASON, ATTORNEY AT LAW, was thrown in shadow where the sunlight splashed across the massive table loaded with law books.”
The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito, by Erle Stanley Gardner
“The sweat wis lashing oafay Sick Boy; he wis trembling.”
Trainspotting, by Irvine Welsh
“Addison and Cassidy Hempel, identical twin girls, were born on January 23, 2004.”
We the Scientists: How a Daring Team of Parents and Doctors Forged a New Path for Medicine, by Amy Dockser Marcus
“And now,” says the nice interviewer from Modern Woman magazine, “how does it feel to be writing your seventh book?”
What Does It Feel Like?, a novella by Sophie Kinsella.
“The stories and pictures in this book are written and painted by refugee children in Kenya.”
One Day We Had to Run!: Refugee Children Tell Their Stories in Words and Paintings, edited by Sybella Wilkes
“When the temp agency called, I was struggling to make the math work.”
Hench, by Natalie Zina Walschots
“The silence was unnerving after several days at sea, crossing from America with the constant grinding of the ship’s engines, quiet now in the Atlantic waters off North Africa.”
Against All Odds by Alex Kershaw
“Don’t shoot guns into the hurricane.”
Naked Came the Florida Man - Tim Dorsey
“Where did Hebrew come from?”
The Story of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert
““There were men,” said the witness. He was lean and dark, the color of an acorn, and seated beside his lawyer at the small table reserved for testimony, he appeared as tense as a sprinter on the starting line.”
Testimony by Scott Turow
“Composite image, optically encoded by escort-craft of the trans-Channel airship Lord Brunel; aerial view of suburban Cherbourg, October 14, 1905.”
The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
“Abner Marsh rapped the head of his hickory walking stick smartly on the hotel desk to get the clerk’s attention.”
Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin
“In 2015, Microsoft did a study on attention spans.”
You’ve Got Eight Seconds; Communication Secrets for a Distracted World, by Paul Hellman
“It is possible I already had some presentiment of my future.”
The Shadow of the Torturer, by Gene Wolfe
“The art of the Middle Ages is an art of storytelling.”
How to Read Medieval Art, by Wendy A. Stein
“The rough mountain trails that connected West Point with the furnace and forge at Sterling Pond were still drifted with snow in spots, even though it was the end of March in this year of Our Lord 1778.”
Constant Hearses and Other Revolutionary Mysteries, by Edward D. Hoch (Note that this sentence is from the first story, “The Hudson Chain”.)
“January 25, 1931. The Miskatonic Antarctic Expedition reached the reported campsite of our Northwest Area survey team.”
At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft, adaptation and artwork by Gou Tanabe
It was a pilgrimage.
The Mahdi by A.J. Quinnell
“When Abe awoke on the morning of November 22, the weather was overcast and drizzly, a disappointing beginning to the day of the president’s visit to Dallas.”
Twenty-Six Seconds by Alexandra Zapruder
The urn the ashes came in was beautiful – shiny and black, with an enamel swastika on one side.
His Majesty’s Hope, third Maggie Hope mystery by Susan Elia Macneal
“Elisha Archibald Manning III sounds more like a member of the English royalty than an American football player, but “Archie” Manning was indeed a terrific football player.”
What the Luck? The Surprising Role of Chance in Our Everyday Lives, by Gary Smith
“They’re coming.”
Fireheart Tiger, a fantasy novella by Aliette de Bodard.