Archive for the 'bookish things' Category

There are some types of food that do lend themselves to sophisticated techniques of interrogation. When an Italian restaurant is suggested, for instance, I always say, “Who controls the city around here?” I suppose a good Italian restaurant could exist in a city that doesn’t have enough Italians to constitute at least a powerful minority in city politics, but a man in town for only two or three meals has to go with the percentages.

From American Fried: Adventures of a Happy Eater by Calvin Trillin, pages 20-21

Teaser Tuesdays is a fun weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The bright spot in all of the sad news today about the passing of J. D. Salinger is all of the wonderful quotes from his work that people have shared today on Twitter and Facebook. It’s been a lovely tribute to a man whose writing continues to speak to readers of all ages.

In Salinger’s honor, here are a few of my favorite passages from one of my favorite authors:

Lane spotted her immediately, and despite whatever it was he was trying to do with his face, his arm that shot up into the air was the whole truth.
-Franny and Zooey, page 7 (this is one of my favorite lines in all of literature)

“You’d better get busy, though, buddy. The goddam sands run out on you every time you turn around. I know what I’m talking about. You’re lucky if you get time to sneeze in this goddam phenomenal world.”
-Franny and Zooey, page 198

A box of Louis Sherry candies – half empty, and with the unconsumed candies all more or less experimentally squeezed – was open on the coffee table, in front of the couch.
-Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour an Introduction, page 55

Anybody over the age of sixteen without an ulcer’s a goddam spy.
-Franny and Zooey, page 141

The best thing, though, about being in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move. You could go there a hundred thousand times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the birds would still be on their way south, the deers would still be drinking out of that water hole, with their pretty antlers and their pretty, skinny legs, and that squaw with the naked bosom would still be weaving that same blanket. Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you.
-The Catcher in the Rye, page 121

I don’t suppose a writing man ever really gets rid of his old crocus-yellow neckties. Sooner or later, I think, they show up in prose, and there isn’t a hell of a lot he can do about it.
-Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour an Introduction, page 187

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages readers to share the goodies that they picked up at their libraries each week!

It’s an appropriate time for me to post my first Library Loot entry, since I’ve been to the library 3 times this week and taken out way more than I can possibly read before the due dates.

I adore going to the library. It’s like shopping, but without spending any money. Granted, you don’t get to own the items you “shop” for forever, but it does Hit the Shopping Spot. You leave your apartment, you go to a place with lots of choices, and you take some of it home. Triggers the shopping high with absolutely no buyer’s remorse. Even if I don’t get around to reading every book I check out, I often read the first few pages to get an idea on whether I’d like to read the book someday. Often times I’ll buy it later, or check it out again in the future.

Here’s some of the loot I collected this week:

44 Scotland Street, Espresso Tales, and Love Over Scotland by Alexander McCall Smith
I’ve been wanting to try out an Alexander McCall Smith series, and I decided to start with the 44 Scotland Street series. My best friend and I are starting to plan a vacation later this year to Ireland and many other areas around it, and right now I’m sort of obsessed with all things United Kingdom. I picked up the first three books of this series, and I just finished 44 Scotland Street.

My One Hundred Adventures by Polly Horvath
I’ve heard great things about this children’s novel by Newbery Honor author Polly Horvath, and its name alone is enough to perk my interest.

House of Cards by David Ellis Dickerson
I’ve wanted to give this book a try since hearing David Dickerson read at the David Sedaris signing at Strand last year. He was a hoot and his memoir about working at Hallmark writing greeting cards sounds like a fun read.

Nation by Terry Pratchett
This won the 2009 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for fiction, and I read an essay by Terry Pratchett in the Jan/Feb 2010 Horn Book Magazine. It sounds great and it feels like it’s about time that I read a book by Terry Pratchett, he’s well loved by many of my family members.

McCarthy’s Bar: A Journey of Discovery in the West of Ireland by Pete McCarthy
A travel memoir about Ireland: resistance was futile.

I Never Knew That About Ireland by Christopher Winn
This book is packed full of interesting trivia about Ireland. A reserve that came in for me this week.

The Gentle Art of Domesticity by Jane Brocket
My Mom spotted this book at a Barnes and Noble over Christmas, and I put a reserve on it at the library. It’s a gorgeous book with a lot of great photographs, recipes, and tips. “Brocket celebrates everything that is, and can be, wonderful about home life.” I think I’m going to need to buy this one.

Ireland by Frank Delaney
Spotting a theme here?

Manhood for Amateurs by Michael Chabon
Couldn’t resist taking home Michael Chabon’s latest when I saw it in the new books section.

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
Pleased that the library had this waiting for me after seeing her stage show. I’ve already finished it, review is here.

American on Purpose by Craig Ferguson
I’ve heard good things about this memoir, and I do like Craig Ferguson.

After supper, by the fire, we drank hot beer. On a world where a common table implement is a little device with which you crack the ice that has formed on your drink between drafts, hot beer is a thing you come to appreciate.

From The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin, page 11

Teaser Tuesdays is a fun weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!