Tag Archives: thursday quotables

Thursday Quotables: Dragonfly in Amber

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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!

DIA quote

Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
(first published 1992)

I’m just finishing a re-read of Dragonfly in Amber (book #2 in the Outlander series) via audiobook, and so many new and different parts jumped out at me this time. I don’t think I ever really paid attention to the quote above in my previous readings, but this time, it struck me as so simple and romantic… that I got inspired, played around with images and text, and made myself a pretty graphic of it! What do you think?

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!
  • Leave your link in the comments — or, if you have a quote to share but not a blog post, you can leave your quote in the comments too!
  • Visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables, and have fun!

Thursday Quotables: The Eyes of the Dragon

Posted in Thursday Quotables by

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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 Eyes of the Dragon

The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King
(first published 1987)

Once, in a kingdom called Delain, there was a King with two sons. Delain was a very old kingdom and it had had hundreds of Kings, perhaps even thousands; when time goes on long enough, not even historians can remember everything. Roland the Good was neither the best nor the worst King ever to rule the land. He tried very hard not to do anyone great evil and mostly succeeded. He also tried very hard to do great works, but, unfortunately, he didn’t succeed so well at that. The result was a very mediocre King; he doubted if he would be remembered long after he was dead.

It’s been many, many years since I first read The Eyes of the Dragon — so many, actually, that it really feels brand new. I’m just starting this book with my son, and that opening already made me happy.

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!

Thursday Quotables: Harrowgate

Posted in Thursday Quotables by

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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!

Harrowgate

Harrowgate by Kate Maruyama
47North, 2013

Two coffins. One large, blonde wood, absolutely covered in white-and-cream-colored roses and Easter lilies and calla lilies, surrounded by green leaves of various shapes and sizes. They make the coffin look as if its organs have exploded out of its center and now lie in twisted tendrils, draping down its sides. Next to it, a small white coffin, barely visible for its matching disembowelment of flowers.

Creepy enough for ya? If you’d like to know more about Harrowgate, check out 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!

Thursday Quotables: What Nora Knew

Posted in Thursday Quotables by

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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!

What Nora Knew

What Nora Knew by Linda Yellin
Gallery Books, 2014

Pammie had all the prerequisites for marrying money. Long-legged. Voluptuous. Blond and tan. Her tans used to come from Jergens tanning moisturizer; now they come from winters in Palm Springs. If you asked her, she’d say she wasn’t looking to fall in love with a man twenty years her senior with a big fat bank account, that’s just the way things turned out. I’d say parading down the Hamptons beaches in a skinny bikini past the big mansions, the summer after college graduation, didn’t hurt either.

Want to know more? Check out my review of What Nora Knew!

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!

Thursday Quotables: Runaways

Posted in Thursday Quotables by

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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, Vol. 6: Parental Guidance (Paperback)

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!

Thursday Quotables: The Golem and the Jinni

Posted in Thursday Quotables by

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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!

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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!

Thursday Quotables: The Firebird

Posted in Thursday Quotables by

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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!

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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!

Thursday Quotables: “Virgins”/Dangerous Women

Posted in Thursday Quotables by

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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!

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“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!

Thursday Quotables: Racing Savannah

Posted in Thursday Quotables by

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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!

Thursday Quotables: The Lover’s Dictionary

Posted in Thursday Quotables by

quotation-marks4

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!

thanksgiving

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!