"The library at Osthorne Academy for Young Mages was silent save for the whisper of the books in the Theoretical Magic section. "
Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey
“Jake Shu saw the afterburners kick in, the flight of four F-35 Lightning II aircraft leave the gravity of earth and head into the night sky.”
American Traitor by Brad Taylor
“Dear Citizen of the Internet: From time to time, in your ordinary exercise of the delights of the online world, you may find yourself accosted by clods.”
Virtue Signaling and Other Heresies: Selected Writings from Whatever 2013-208, by John Scalzi
“The light hadn’t even officially turned green at the intersection of 17th and Broadway before an army of overconfident yellow cabs roared past the tiny deathtrap I was attempting to navigate around the city streets.”
The Devil Wears Prada, by Lauren Weisberger
“James Bond, with two double bourbons inside him, sat in the final departure lounge of Miami Airport and thought about life and death.”
Goldfinger by Ian Fleming
“Beg pardon. Which way to the front?”
Drawing Fire: The Editorial Cartoons of Bill Mauldin, by Bill Mauldin
“When Bianca Majolie stood up at the front of the room, the blood immediately drained from her face, her palms started to sweat, and she could feet her heart pounding.”
The Queens of Animation: The Untold Story of the Women Who Transformed the World of Disney and Made Cinematic History, by Nathalia Holt.
“Nothing was moving on the 405.”
Who Killed the Fonz? by James Boice
“The manhunt extended across more than one hundred light-years and eight centuries.”
A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge (yes, I’ve read it several times before)
“At seven o’clock in the morning on Friday, May 27, 1541, within the precincts of the Tower of London, an old woman walked out into the light of a spring day.”
– The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors, by Dan Jones
So gorgeous was the spectacle on the May morning of 1910 when nine kings rode in the funeral of Edward VII of England that the crowd, waiting in hushed and black-clad awe, could not keep back gasps of admiration.
The Guns of August: The Outbreak of World War I by Barbara Tuchman
I read it back in the eighties and I recently picked up a used copy and decided to read it again.
“What’s two plus two?”
Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir
“I did stand-up comedy for eighteen years.”
Born Standing Up, by Steve Martin
“Billy Summers sits in the hotel lobby, waiting for his ride.”
Billy Summers, by Stephen King
“I walked in the woods today, and it made me wonder why I walk anywhere else.”
Turning of Days: Lessons from Nature, Season, and Spirit, by Hannah Anderson
“I sing the city.” Second sentence: “Fucking city.” N. K. Jemisin, The City We Became.
“She sat at the base of the big tree–her little sunbonnet pushed back, her arms locked about her knees, her bare feet gathered under her crimson gown and her deep eyes focused on the smoke in the valley below.”
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, by John Fox, Jr. (Yes, the “big tree” in this quote is the Lonesome Pine.)
“This is a story about the proud highway of second thoughts.”
Special Deluxe by Neil Young
“A painting really is like a pizza, in a surprising number of ways.”
Why a Painting is Like a Pizza: A Guide to Understanding and Enjoying Modern Art, by Nancy G. Heller
“It was the last night of 1937. With no better plans or prospects, my roommate Eve had dragged me back to The Hotspot, a wishfully named nightclub in Greenwich Village that was four feet underground.”
The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
“The enigma arrived in the afternoon post, sealed, smudged, and devastating.”
The Rose Code, by Kate Quinn