Basically that. "Sel l me" a book by using one or a few quotes you think are representative of something you love about a book you love. It can be prose, characters, plot, worldbuilding…. Anything, but only if you have a quote to exemplify it.
Thanks in advance!
by simonbleu
14 Comments
The virgin suicides. She was the still point in the turning world.
[The Hands of the Emperor](https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/af2bba9c-8f41-4a3e-b87a-8532a44ccb67) by Victoria Goddard:
“He no longer believed one could legislate out of existence greed, or stupidity, or sheer perversity of will. It reassured him that neither could one legislate out of existence love, or hope, or the desire for beauty.”
Tender Bar “Takes many men to Build a man, next time you drive into the city and look all the men it takes to build that the Building”
Dune “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain”
“And now,’ said the unknown, ‘farewell kindness, humanity, and gratitude! Farewell to all the feelings that expand the heart! I have been heaven’s substitute to recompense the good – now the god of vengeance yields to me his power to punish the wicked!”
Monte Cristo
couldnt choose one sorry lmao, The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
“The reminder that other lives had tragedies without reference to his own was both salutary and painful.”
“Better to build new bridges, he thought, than to pine after what’s been washed away.”
“Nothing can make death easier,” Cala said, “but silence can make it harder.”
*The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason.*
-Seveneves
“Every morning the world flung itself over and exposed the town to the sun. So Janie had another day.”
― Zora Neale Hurston
*Their Eyes Were Watching God*
My favorite opening line of all times. Sucked me in immediately and truly was representational of the whole book…
“If I could tell you one thing about my life it would be this: when I was seven years old the mailman ran over my head.”
The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall
“Interested people are interesting.”
Beatrice Ayer Patton in **Lady of the Army: The Life of Mrs. George S. Patton**
He slept a dark comma against her pale elegant phrase.
-Possession
*The small boys came early to the hanging* ~ the opening line of The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
“All true wealth is biological” from the *Vorkosigan Saga* by Lois McMaster Bujold.
“We should forgive our enemies, but not before they are hanged.” ― Joe Abercrombie, Before They Are Hanged
“if you speak of this I will tear out your voice and top it down the nearest drain” ― Patricia A. McKillip, Ombria in Shadow
“What a dull place the world would be if all the mysteries in it were solved.” ― Patricia A. McKillip, The Changeling Sea
“I choose not to believe in any gods as an act of charity,” Marcus said. “Charity toward whom?” “Toward the gods. Seems rude to think they couldn’t make a world better than this,” ― Daniel Abraham, The Dragon’s Path
“The weapon is poison,’ Kit said. ‘….In time, you will grow ill from it, and eventually, inevitably, it will kill you.’
‘It’s a sword, Kit,’ Marcus said, lifting the green scabbard from it’s place. They’re all like that.” ― Daniel Abraham, The Tyrant’s Law
I just re-listened to the “Magic for Liars” audiobook by Sarah Gailey, a noir murder mystery set in a magic school (not YA). Such a brilliant, under-rated book methinks.
I’ll start with one quote to get your attention:
*”The thought “you probably shouldn’t tell her about this” wandered through my mind and smashed into “you’re pretty drunk” and “fuck it”. Only fuck it survived the collision.”*
Following up with the quote that made me feel like someone had struck a gong in my soul:
*”The thing about me is, I let things go. I let people go. I don’t know how to hang on to them—I try, but I hold too tight or not tight enough or something in between and they go. They always go.”* This book explores lots about loneliness and isolation and being “different”. This quote resonated so strongly with me as a late dxd autistic woman that I immediately wanted to capture it, only to realise I’d already bookmarked it 4 years ago