“My birth was a sin and a crime.”
- The House Children, by Heidi Daniele
“Ryan Peterson tugged at his swim cap with its bold number 2 and gave stink eye to his competitors, who flapped their arms – Michael Phelps’ style – a few yards down Honolulu’s Ala Moana Beach.”
– Freewheel: #HonoluluLaw, #FamousTriathlete, & a #Charity, by Katharine M. Nohr.
The tower, which was not supposed to be there, plunges into the earth in a place just before the black pine forest begins to give way to the swamp and then the reeds and wind-gnarled trees of the marsh flats.
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
“'Where Were You?’ There it was - the most universal of questions we ask one another following an epic public event.”
Top Down by Jim Lehrer (2013)
“Andy tattooed his left forearm with Lori’s name on a drunken night in his seventeenth year.”
- Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea, by Sarah Pinsker
“The sad-faced, heavy man with the scar over his left eye was singing softly to himself.”
Giants of Jazz by Studs Turkel
“In their ruddy jackets of leather that reached to their knees the men of Erl appeared before their lord, the stately white-haired man in his long red room.”
The King of Elfland’s Daughter, by Lord Dunsany
“August 13, 1859, was a hot day in Council Bluffs, Iowa.”
Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869 by Stephen Ambrose (2000)
“On a tous déja pensé se tuer.”
Paradis, clef en main (2009) Nelly Arcan
“We’ve all thought about killing ourselves.”
Paradise Turnkey published in English as Exit
“Never before, as he knew, had any of his countrymen set off to accomplish anything like what he had agreed to undertake – a mission that, should he succeed, could change the course of history in innumerable ways and to the long-lasting benefit of countless Americans.”
– The Pioneers: The Historic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West, by David McCullough
McCullogh is one of my favorite US history writers.
Spring had come to Ithica – for the second or third time that year – with mild temperatures melting the of grimy snow, snowdrops peeping through here and there, and V’s [sic] of Canada geese honking exuberantly overhead on their journey northward.-- Steven L. Sass The Substance of Civilization: Materials and human history from the Stone Age to the Age of Silicon
Pretty poetic for a book about materials science and engineering.
“The old stove began to go on a Saturday morning late in April, 1886.”
The Nickel-Plated Beauty, by Patricia Beatty
“Roger Bushell had just turned thirty when he reached Dulag Luft, the reception camp for Air Force prisoners.”
This is the first sentence of the Prelude to “The Great Escape” by Paul Brickhill, a book I’ve read perhaps a half-dozen times in the last 50 years, and recently I picked out my dog-eared paperback copy to read once again. It was the basis for the classic 1963 movie starring Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough and James Garner, and is the true story of a brilliant escape from a German POW camp by Allied prisoners. If you’ve seen the movie and found it entertaining, read the book if you can find it. The real story is riveting, representing true courage, resiliance and cunning.
“But surely Your Excellency can’t dispute the facts of the matter!”
Sanctuary, ed. by Robert Lynn Asprin (1981)
Me, too! He graduated from my high school, many years before me. I introduced myself to him at two book signings maybe a decade apart, each time by name and class year, and he lit up both times.
The only lodging in Grafton was a low-slung motel with a smashed door at the entrance.
–Spying on the South: An Odyssey Across the American Divide by the sadly recently-deceased Tony Horwitz, one of my favorite authors.
“No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.”
A Grief Observed, by C. S. Lewis
Izzy Feldman said “Enough is enough,” took the Jericho 941 nine-millimeter pistol out from underneath his armpit, and shot Philadelphia mob boss Dominic Scarlotti between the eyes with such studied nonchalance that even Anthony “Little Anthony” Bonica - who had been expecting it - jumped and said, “Holy fuck, you didn’t even want to talk to him first?”
Grand Theft by Timothy Watts
Now that is a opening sentence!
“There were crimson roses on the bench; they looked like splashes of blood.”
Strong Poison, Dorothy L. Sayers
"When I was in college, drugs were things you bought at the drugstore.
Drugs from A to Z: A Dictionary by Richard R. Lingeman, copyright 1969.
This book is a trip, man.