Thursday, July 31, 2008

quotes#469826 Anne of Green Gables

"This is my little girl, Diana," said Mrs Barry. "Diana, you might take Anna out into the garden and show her your flowers. It will be better for you than straining your eyes over that book. She reads entirely too much" - this to Marilla as the little girls went out - "and I can't prevent her, for her father aids and abets her. She's alaways poring over a book. I'm glad she has the prospect of a playmate - perhaps it will take her more out-of-doors." p76

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

next-on-list #005671

The How of Happiness, by Sonja Lyubomirsky, c. 2007 -- wcl 158.1
One night with the sheikh, by Penny Jordan, c. 2003 -- bc 6266362
Chicken soup for the beach-lovers soul, by Jack Canfield et al, c. 2007 -- ecl
In the spaniard's bed, by Helen Bianchin, c. 2003 -- bc6266364
quotes #522197 Lucky Man

Angry or not, my only immediate recourse was to just get on with it until I could figure out some way to get out of it. p187

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

quotes #099662 Lucky Man

It seems to me that the quality of a moment in time is not always a reflection of the moment in and of itself - what happens before and what happens after are often what gives it its savor. Having forestalled a professional crisis, that monkey was, at least for now, off my back - and with no way of anticipating the gorilla that was waiting for me in the fall, the rest of that summer was a parenthesis of bliss. p30

- believing, as I do, in a bit of wisdom gleaned from amongst the more scatological offerings scrawled on a toilet wall door in Vancouver's Arts Club Theatre, circa 1978: a creative mess is better than an idle tidiness. p6

Friday, July 25, 2008

quotes#364451 The Leninsky Prospekt

Viktor had written the poem in his head some time ago; tonight it was the poem he decided he wanted to write down. It would make no difference if the guards came and took his pencil away; it would make no difference if they made him wash the wall or if they painted over the poem. It was hardly legible anyway. He would always have the poem in his head. He would write it down again some place else, another time. Or he would recite it, to tell it to others, again and again, to anyone who would listen, inside prison or out, until they, too, could repeat it. He'd always go on writing, spreading his word, whenever he had the chance. p120


The guards came for him just before he lay down to sleep. They wouldn't throw him into solitary after a cosy night's snooze and a strengthening if shitty breakfast; they'd throw him in now, tired out. Let him soak his feet in the standing, icy water covering the floor, then let him slump all night on the stone bench. The bench was too hard, too narrow, too cold for sleeping. p118
[comment: ah the freedoms we have in life; sleep in warmth; context: political prisoner]

Thursday, July 24, 2008

quotes#475459 The House Has Three Walls

Think of the sun staring at the earth, of it frowning through the clouds, alternating with periods of concentrated effort, day after day willing the seed to burst from the unseen world into the open. And you get an idea of how Judith's Russia was able to flourish and take over the life she led with Neil in the Wairarapa. p23
passages-that-made-me-wish#066677 from The Last Week in May

And the presents - from Cathal and Gaby, a thing for all the world like a giant furry boot that heated up when you plugged it in. Then you put your feet in, apparently, both of them, and it kept them warm. He'd never heard of such a thing, often wished for some magical solution for his chilly feet. He'd try it out the minute they were gone. p288

She slid the soft-poached duck egg onto the slice of toast. Such laziness, nearly midday and still in her dressing-gown, breakfast on the table when she should have been getting lunch.
Ah, who cared? Who was there to see her, an elderly woman sitting in her own kitchen on a Saturday morning? She picked up her fork and poked it into the egg, watched the dark orange yolk slither slowly over the toast. Such luxury, not to have to rush anywhere. She reached for the salt cellar. p239

Saturday, July 19, 2008

just read Little Elephant Thunderfoot by Sally Grindley & John Butler ... also a storytime pick by Diana W.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

quotes#937921 Six For Heaven

he was what we called a 'gum-nut' this being the college colloquial for a 'swot' or genuine lover of books. p140

they all gathered in the stable-yard to see us off. If Jake was taking a lady out they were making it a family concern. I made a joke of scrambling into the saddle because I didn't want to look idiotic. Better to laugh at myself, and very loudly, than give them the chance to do it quietly amongst themselves. p120

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

squeezing in next lot #205546

The Cat Mummy, by Jacqueline Wilson, c. 2001 [recommended by acl]
The Last Week in May, by Rosin Meaney, c. 2007 lcl
This House Has Three Walls, by Lloyd Jones, c. 1997 lcl, fiction

Monday, July 14, 2008

quotes#440424 Pursuit of Happyness

My short-lived life of crime had the fleeting effect of making me grateful for what I had at home and at work. It also taught me the major principle that there ain't so such thing as easy money. Banging on that anvil, that was the way. p164

By this point, I had learned the power of asking questions and knew that the best doctors didn't mind being asked them. p131

Saturday, July 12, 2008

quotes#645629 The Pursuit of Happyness

Books, as always, fulfilled my need to find power through knowledge. Over the next few years, I journeyed through black history by reading whatever I could get my hands on. Moms would never discourage me from reading any book, although she was slightly alarmed when I came home with Die Nigger by H. Rap Brown and Soul on Ice by Elridge Cleaver. p94

The full details were never revealed to me or my sisters. All I got from this time was a mechanism for becoming still when scary forces preyed on me. Fear of losing my life, losing the life of a loved one, or the fear of losing everything I have - those fears followed me for years. Stillness has been my refuge and my defense. Even later, as an adult, I would cope by being still. Very still. It's not something I would always feel good about, but it's where I go whenever there's too much chaos around me, when the world seems like crumbling, when I suddenly fear that everything or everyone I cherish is going to be taken from me in the blink of the eye.
I get still. p58

In my twenty-seven years of life so far, I have learned a little already about the power of information and about the kind of currency that information has become. Now I see an opportunity to get some inside information, I think, and so I draw out my trusty sword - a compulsion for question-asking that has been in my survival kit since childhood. p4

Friday, July 11, 2008

quotes#191548 The Business Arrangement

"Out? Why do we have to go out?" Amy asked, curled up in the corner of the sofa. "I'm reading." p95

... likes yellow flowers (adds energy to a room). p75

Thursday, July 10, 2008

quotes#467522 Dies the Fire

"We don't call anyone evil because of their faith. There are many roads to the Divine. We'd just like you to promise to reciprocate, as a demonstration of goodwill." p402

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

quotes#763381 Dies the Fire

It was good to laugh with friends; good to have some problems that looked solvable, as well. And sometimes the Goddess just gave you a bonus. p343

All you had to do was to stop the part of your mind that was always telling itself stories. p231

"The Mother-of-All's been good to us, Dennie. But She's giving us a message, too. We have to pay back, if we don't want the luck to leave us - threefold return for good or ill." p115

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Dies the Fire is very similar to Burning Road. Read the latter in 2006.

Saturday, July 05, 2008

kids reading #992587

anneke - the snow spider by jenny nimmo - much enjoyed - read it in one sitting
margaret and myself - a book on tooth fairies -- i need to edit the title at some point

Friday, July 04, 2008

Squeezing In #463793

One of our patrons was talking about this book yesterday - how he read it when Hurrican Katrina was on in New Orleans.

"Dies the Fire," by S.M. Stirling, c. 2004