It was as if there was a wide foggy space between anything he might think of doing and his body that would do it.
– Cynthia Voigt, The Vandemark Mummy, page 154
Version:
Mass Market Paperback, 209 pages
Published August 23rd 1992 by Fawcett
Book Quotes
Words from Books
dolor
/ˈdōlər/
noun
- a state of great sorrow or distress
The little girl ghost, Bahar, dripping with river water and dolor, told her solemnly, “Sarai can’t play right now,” which sent a chill up her spine.
– Laini Taylor, Strange the Dreamer
First Lines Fridays: January 18, 2019
First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?
- Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
- Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
- Finally… reveal the book!
First Lines:
Tell me about a complicated man.
Muse, tell me how he wandered and was lost
when he had wrecked the holy town of Troy,
and where he went, and who he met, the pain
he suffered in the storms at sea, and how
he worked to save his life and bring his men
back home. He failed to keep them safe; poor fools,
they ate the Sun God’s cattle, and the god
kept them from home. Now goddess, child of Zeus,
tell the old story for our modern times.
Did the quote pique your interest? View this book on Goodreads!
The night silence, the trees looming over the deserted pathway, the vast dark sky full of stars — it all made him feel as if something was about to happen, and he was ready for it.
– Cynthia Voigt, The Vandemark Mummy, page 75
Version:
Mass Market Paperback, 209 pages
Published August 23rd 1992 by Fawcett
Words from Books
flummery
/ˈfləmərē/
noun
- empty compliments; nonsense
- a sweet dish made with beaten eggs, milk, sugar, and flavorings
It sounded like a lot of flummery to Drave, but what did he know?
– Laini Taylor, Strange the Dreamer
First Lines Fridays: January 11, 2019
First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?
- Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
- Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
- Finally… reveal the book!
First Lines:
Linderwall was a large kingdom, just east of the Mountains of Morning, where philosophers were highly respected and the number five was fashionable.
Did the quote pique your interest? View this book on Goodreads!
Thirsty Thursday & Hungry Hearts: January 10, 2019
Welcome to Thirsty Thursday & Hungry Hearts, an original weekly meme hosted by (un)Conventional Bookworms. “So many of the books we read have food or drinks in them, some we’d love to try, and others we’d never ever want to taste… The idea of Thirsty Thursday & Hungry Hearts is to share a quote with food or drinks that showed up in a recent read, as well as if it’s something you think you’d like or not. Please share the title of the book it happened in, as well as the character who ate or drank the special little something you discovered between the pages of a good read.”
I picked this passage from Cynthia Voigt’s The Vandemark Mummy because it gave me a cavity. Just try to read it without craving ice cream, I dare you.
Mr. Hall smiled up at the waitress. “Water for me too, and two scoops of pistachio, with marshmallow sauce on it, I think, and whipped cream, and some wet nuts, and a maraschino cherry.”
Words from Books
circumlocution
/ˌsərkəmˌləˈkyo͞oSH(ə)n/
noun
- the use of many words where fewer would do, especially in a deliberate attempt to be vague or evasive
He shuddered at his own craven circumlocution, using so meaningless a word to obscure so hideous a truth.
– Laini Taylor, Strange the Dreamer
First Lines Fridays: January 4, 2019
First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?
- Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
- Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
- Finally… reveal the book!
First Lines:
Wren was silent.
She stood completely still next to me, staring straight ahead with that look she got sometimes, like she was either happy or plotting to kill someone.
Did the quote pique your interest? View this book on Goodreads!
I watched the early morning light pass over and through the windows of colored glass, leaving streaks of red and green and yellow on the stone floor. When I was little, I used to try to capture the colored light. I thought I could hold it in my hand and carry it home. Now I know it is like happiness — it is there or it is not, you cannot hold it or keep it.
– Karen Cushman, Catherine, Called Birdy, page 108
Version:
Paperback, 212 pages
Published March 31st 1995 by HarperCollins
Darkestwings Reads