Thursday Quotables: Runaways

Posted in Thursday Quotables by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome back to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week. Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!

Runaways: Parental Guidance (volume 6) by Brian K. Vaughan
Marvel, 2006

The teens in this series of comics/graphic novels have definitely earned their cynicism:

I know it seems weird, considering we were routinely fighting vampires and mythical giants, but back when we thought Alex was one of us, things were just… simpler. I mean, I always knew you should never trust your parents, but I was naive enough to think you could always trust your friends.

They’ve certainly been through more than their share of trauma:

“Whatever. I suppose the only time we ever really get to be happy in life — like, one hundred percent blissful — is when we’re little kids.”

“Because there’s less to worry about?”

“Because we’re too stupid to know how worried we should be.”

Runaways synopsis (Amazon):

This unusually clever, fun teen comic is based on the novel premise that parents don’t just seem evil, they actually are evil supervillains. Or so some kids find out one night while eavesdropping on a dastardly meeting they take to be a cocktail party. Although the children are each a “type” right out of sitcom land—the goth girl, the brain, the jock, the dreamboat, the shy one—they’re also fairly empathetic characters. Vaughan’s closely observed dialogue lends them authenticity and pathos as they go through the disturbing realization that their parents aren’t just jerks but actually mass-murderers. The plot builds from this initial discovery, as the kids band together, discover they, too, have superhuman powers and engage their parents in good, old-fashioned superhuman fisticuffs. The group goes on the run and discovers their parents have all of Los Angeles in their pockets—it’s enough to make a teenager feel more alienated than ever.

I just finished a marathon reading of the 11 volumes of books in this series, and despite being a bit uneven in places, overall I’d say this was a great reading binge for kicking off the New Year!

What lines made you laugh, cry, or gasp this week? Do tell!

If you’d like to participate in Thursday Quotables, it’s really simple:

Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
Click below (next to the cute froggy face) to link up your post! And be sure to visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables too.
Have a quote to share but not a blog post? Leave your quote in the comments.
Have fun!

25Dec2013

Thursday Quotables: The Golem and the Jinni

Posted in Thursday Quotables by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome back to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week. Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
HarperCollins, 2013

He was beginning to shiver, but he ignored it. Instead he turned and gazed up at the city that rose from the water’s edge, the enormous square buildings that reached far into the heavens, their windows set with perfect panes of glass. As fantastical as cities like ash-Sham and al-Quds had seemed from the caravan men’s tales, the Jinni doubted that they’d been half so wondrous or terrifying as this New York. If he must be marooned in an unknown land, surrounded by a deadly ocean, and constrained to one weak and imperfect form, at least he’d ended up somewhere worth exploring.

Does anyone not love New York???

What lines made you laugh, cry, or gasp this week? Do tell!

If you’d like to participate in Thursday Quotables, it’s really simple:

Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
Click below (next to the cute froggy face) to link up your post! And be sure to visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables too.
Have a quote to share but not a blog post? Leave your quote in the comments.
Have fun!

18Dec2013

Thursday Quotables: The Firebird

Posted in Thursday Quotables by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome back to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week. Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!

The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley
Sourcebooks Landmark, 2013

“Hi,” he said. He didn’t say the word out loud — there wasn’t any way I would have heard him at that distance — but his voice still resonated clearly in my mind as though he’d spoken. It’s a hard thing to explain to anyone who’s never carried on a conversation that way, but to me it came as naturally as breathing. It was how my grandfather had realized I’d inherited his “gift,” when at the age of three I’d answered him at table, “When I’m sleeping,” and my mother, glancing up, had smiled and asked me what I meant by that, to which I had replied, “Granddad asked me if I ever would stop talking.” I could still see their exchange of glances; still recall the silence that had followed.

I’m about halfway through this lovely book, which combines historical fiction with a contemporary love story and mystery. Susanna Kearsley has quickly become one of my “auto-buy” authors, and The Firebird has me hooked!

Want to know more about The Firebird? Here’s the synopsis via Goodreads:

Nicola Marter was born with a gift: when she touches an object, she sometimes glimpses those who have owned it before. When the gallery she works in receives a wooden carving she can see the object’s history and knows that it was named after the Firebird, the mythical bird that inspires an old Russian fairytale, and was once owned by Russia’s famed Empress Catherine.

Nicola’s investigation into the Firebird’s origin draws her into the 1715 world of Anna Logan and leads her on a quest through Scotland, France and Russia, unearthing a tale of love and sacrifice, of courage and redemption.

What lines made you laugh, cry, or gasp this week? Do tell!

If you’d like to participate in Thursday Quotables, it’s really simple:

Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
Click below (next to the cute froggy face) to link up your post! And be sure to visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables too.
Have a quote to share but not a blog post? Leave your quote in the comments.
Have fun!

11Dec2013

Thursday Quotables: “Virgins”/Dangerous Women

Posted in Thursday Quotables by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome back to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week. Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!

“Virgins” by Diana Gabaldon
from the anthology Dangerous Women,
edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois
Tor, 2013

“Ye dinna have to come in, man,” he said to Ian. “I can do it alone.”

Ian’s mouth twitched, but he shook his head and stepped up next to Jamie.

“On your right, man,” he said, simply. Jamie smiled. When he’d been five years old, Ian’s da, Auld John, had persuaded his own da to let Jamie handle a sword cack-handed, as he was wont to do. “And you, lad,” he’d said to Ian, very serious, “it’s your duty to stand on your laird’s right hand, and guard his weak side.”

“Aye,” Jamie said. “Right, then.” And rang the bell.

I’ve been walking on air all week, now that Dangerous Women is in my hands and I’ve been able to spend time once again with Jamie Fraser. “Virgins” is a story set prior to the events of Outlander, and it’s such a delight to see a younger version of Jamie and Ian — and the bonds of brotherhood and friendship between the two, rock solid since childhood.

And in case you’re wondering: “Cack-handed” means that Jamie is a leftie!

Click here if you’d like to see my initial thoughts on the Dangerous Women anthology.

What lines made you laugh, cry, or gasp this week? Do tell!

If you’d like to participate in Thursday Quotables, it’s really simple:

Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
Click below (next to the cute froggy face) to link up your post! And be sure to visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables too.
Have a quote to share but not a blog post? Leave your quote in the comments.
Have fun!

4Dec2013

Thursday Quotables: Racing Savannah

Posted in Thursday Quotables by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome back to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week. Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!

Racing Savannah

Racing Savannah by Miranda Kenneally
Sourcebooks Fire, 2013

As main character Savannah observes a wealthy girl’s birthday party:

I salivate when I see the chocolate fountain. The other half of the tent — the side for adults — is elegant, with silk gold tablecloths, succulent flower arrangements, and a champagne fountain. Good god, how many food fountains do these people have? Is there a ranch dressing fountain? Where’s the Diet Coke fountain?

And later, encountering the hot boy she likes:

He looks yummier than a ranch dressing fountain.

And now I’m stuck with the image of a ranch dressing fountain in my head! Yum, pass the carrots!

If you want to know more about Racing Savannah, you can read my review here.

What lines made you laugh, cry, or gasp this week? Do tell!

If you’d like to participate in Thursday Quotables, it’s really simple:

Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
Click below (next to the cute froggy face) to link up your post! And be sure to visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables too.
Have a quote to share but not a blog post? Leave your quote in the comments.
Have fun!

27Nov2013

Thursday Quotables: The Lover’s Dictionary

Posted in Thursday Quotables by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome back to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week. Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!

Posting early, before the Thanksgiving madness begins! I just couldn’t let a Thursday go by without a Thursday Quotables post — even though there’s pumpkin pie to be made! Happy early Thursday! Here’s this week’s Quotable:

buffoonery, n.

You were drunk, and I made the mistake of mentioning Showgirls in a near-empty subway car. The pole had no idea what it was about to endure.

The Lover's Dictionary

Source: The Lover’s Dictionary
Author: David Levithan
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011

I almost went with one of the many heart-breaking definitions from this remarkable book, but in the spirit of Thanksgiving, thought I’d go with one that made me laugh instead!

If you want to know more about The Lover’s Dictionary, you can read my review here.

What lines made you laugh, cry, or gasp this week? Do tell!

If you’d like to participate in Thursday Quotables, it’s really simple:

Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
Click below (next to the cute froggy face) to link up your post! And be sure to visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables too.
Have a quote to share but not a blog post? Leave your quote in the comments.
Have fun!

20Nov2013

Thursday Quotables: Unthinkable

Posted in Thursday Quotables by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome back to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week. Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!

“It was so frustrating for Minnie in Faerie,” Fenella said. “I couldn’t understand her at first, but she said it was like being intellectually starved. She even asked Padraig for books. She couldn’t help herself.”

“I’m sure he didn’t get her any books,” said Lucy tightly.

“But he did,” said Fenella. “Everything from poetry to scientific treatises to philosophy and literature. Something new every single week, for eighteen years.”

“Really? I’m surprised he –”

“Just for the pleasure of keeping them where Minnie could see them. Where she could read their titles, but nothing more. Often, he would read a page or two aloud to her. He always knew what she’d find particularly involving or fascinating or moving. Then he’d stop at the best part, rip out that page, and burn it.”

Source: Unthinkable
Author: Nancy Werlin
Dial Books, 2013

Shudder. Can you think of anything more dastardly? Most. Horrible. Villain. Ever.

If you want to know more about Unthinkable, you can read my review here.

What lines made you laugh, cry, or gasp this week? Do tell!

If you’d like to participate in Thursday Quotables, it’s really simple:

Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
Click below (next to the cute froggy face) to link up your post! And be sure to visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables too.
Have a quote to share but not a blog post? Leave your quote in the comments.
Have fun!

13Nov2013

Thursday Quotables: The Rosie Project

Posted in Thursday Quotables by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome back to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week. Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!

Gene and Claudia tried for a while to assist me with the Wife Problem. Unfortunately, their approach was based on the traditional dating paradigm, which I had previously abandoned on the basis that the probability of success did not justify the effort and negative experience. I am thirty-nine years old, tall, fit, and intelligent, with a relatively high status and above-average income as an associate professor. Logically, I should be attractive to a wide range of women. In the animal kingdom, I would succeed in reproducing.

The Rosie Project

Source: The Rosie Project
Author: Graeme Simsion
Simon & Schuster, 2013

If you want to know more about The Rosie Project, you can read my review here.

What lines made you laugh, cry, or gasp this week? Do tell!

If you’d like to participate, it’s really simple:

Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
Click below (next to the cute froggy face) to link up your post! And be sure to visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables too.
Have a quote to share but not a blog post? Leave your quote in the comments.
Have fun!

11Nov2013

Top Ten & a Teaser for Tuesday

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Switching things up a bit this week…

Usually, I participate in Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and The Bookish… but for this week’s topic, I mostly drew a blank. So, I thought I’d do a two-fer post: Two memes for the price of one! (Hey, don’t worry! There’s no cover charge on Tuesdays… )

First up, for Top Ten Tuesday: The topic is Top Ten Covers I Wish I Could Redesign. I couldn’t come up with more than five, so here’s my abbreviated list:

1) Joyland by Stephen King: As I said in my review, this cover really bears almost no relation to the content or the tone of Joyland, which is — for me, anyway — a nostalgic look book at a special summer, in which the main character unravels a murder mystery but more importantly does some serious growing up. Here’s the real cover, on the left:

Joyland And on the right, here is my not-terribly-artistic attempt at something that better captures the mood of the book. (Pretend someone with actual design skills made this, and use heaping doses of imagination):

2 & 3 & 4) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: I love the Harry Potter series so very much… but seriously, the cover art on the first three books makes Harry look so dorky!

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)

From Goblet of Fire onward, Harry looks much cuter and cooler. I mean, I love him no matter what — but I was much happier with the cover art for books 4 – 7!

5) The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones:

The Uninvited Guests

When I checked this book out of the library, I expected — based on the cover and the synopsis — something a bit Downton Abbey-ish.

But no. The book is a weird muddle of a comedy of manners and a ghost story, and perhaps it’s just because my expectations were so far off, but it didn’t work for me at all (Read my review, here, if you want to know more!) Give this book a spooky or sinister image on the cover, and maybe it would have worked out. Truth in advertising, people!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

And for my second Tuesday book meme, it’s Teaser Tuesday!

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading, and here’s how it works:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share a few “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• Link up over at Should Be Reading!

My teaser this Tuesday are from Just One Day by Gayle Forman:

On the ride back to Utrecht, I call Agnethe the Dane to see if Lulu sent her any photographs, if there had been any correspondence. but she hardly remembers who I am. It’s depressing. This day, so seared in my memory, is just another day to everyone else. And in any case, it was just one day, and it’s over now.

Do you have a top 10 list or a teaser to share this Tuesday? Leave your link in the comments and I’ll be sure to come check out your blog! Thanks for visiting Bookshelf Fantasies… and have a great Tuesday!

6Nov2013

Thursday Quotables: Bellman & Black

Posted in Thursday Quotables by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome back to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week. Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!

His mother was dead: he had seen the body; yet this knowledge refused to find a settled place in his mind. It came and went, surprised him every time he chanced upon it, and there were a million reasons not to believe it. His mother was dead, but look: here were her clothes and here her teacups, here her Sunday hat on the shelf over the coat hook. His mother was dead, but hark: the garden gate! Any moment now she would come through the door.

Source: Bellman & Black
Author: Diane Setterfield
Atria, 2013

What lines made you laugh, cry, or gasp this week? Do tell!

If you’d like to participate, it’s really simple:

Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
Click below (next to the cute froggy face) to link up your post! And be sure to visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables too.
Have a quote to share but not a blog post? Leave your quote in the comments.
Have fun!