Booking Through Thursday: Quotable

This week BTT asks: "Do you have a favorite quote from a book?" And as a matter of fact, I do have some favorite quotes. In fact, I have hundreds of them! Possibly thousands! But don't worry -- I won't repeat them here.

Actually, a few years back, Booking Through Thursday asked a couple of similar questions about favorite opening and closing passages from books, and you can take a look at my answers here and here.

But for today's topic -- whenever anyone asks me about a favorite quote, one sentence always springs to mind:

Reader, I married him.

It's from Jane Eyre, and while it's not the absolute last line of the book (I believe it's the first sentence of the final chapter), I've always thought it really should be. It's such a wonderful way to bring one of the world's most romantic novels to a close.

Teaser Tuesdays: Artists in Crime

This week my teaser lines come from Artists in Crime, one of the Inspector Alleyn mysteries by Ngaio Marsh. In this snippet, the Inspector is interviewing a young art student who's one of the witnesses (and also one of the suspects, of course) in his latest case:

"Are you sure of that, Miss Lee?"

"Yes....I was absolutely exhausted. It always takes it out of me most frightfully when I paint. It simply drains every ounce of my energy. I even forget to breathe."

"That must be most uncomfortable," said Alleyn gravely. (p.70)

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by mizB at Should Be Reading. If you'd like to read more teasers, or take part yourself, just head on over to her blog.

And please feel free to leave me a link to your Teaser Tuesday post in your comment here.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Because of our recent move (from Virginia to Texas), I really haven't had the time to read much of anything lately. In fact, I got to sit down yesterday and actually open a book for the first time in many, many weeks. And it was wonderful.

Of course, the book was one I would have considered wonderful even if it hadn't been the first book I've looked at in two months -- Ngaio Marsh's Artists in Crime, one of her Inspector Alleyn mystery novels -- and I'm really looking forward to finishing it up and maybe saying a few words about it here on this very blog! And then (who knows?) I might even get to start reading something else this week!


It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. If you want to let the world know what books you're going to be reading this week, head on over to her blog and leave your link. It's also a great way to discover new books and new blogs.

Teaser Tuesdays: Skios

Wow, it's been a long, long time since I posted a Teaser Tuesday quote. The hubby and I have been spending the last couple of months getting ready for our move to Texas. And then actually moving to Texas. And then getting settled in the new house in Texas.

And all during that time, I really haven't had much time for blogging -- or reading, either. So this week's quote is coming from one of the books I should be reading right now -- Michael Frayn's new novel, Skios:

...she had slowly become aware of...what? Something. Some kind of feeling in her back. An uneasiness...The faint clammy touch of an alien gaze resting upon it. She was not alone. She was being watched. This was when the freezing paralysis had crept through her, even in the heat of the mid-morning sun. (p.92)

Sorry -- I know that's a lot more than two sentences (as usual). And since I haven't actually started this one, I'm not sure what's going on there, or who's watching who. Sounds a little more mysterious than I usually expect from Frayn, but snippets can be deceiving.



Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by mizB at Should Be Reading. If you'd like to read more teasers, or take part yourself, just head on over to her blog.

And please feel free to leave me a link to your Teaser Tuesday post in your comment here.

Booking Through Thursday: Secondly

This week, BTT asks: "Favorite secondary characters? (Note the plural)."

Yes, I've got some.

But it's very late, and I've got to get some sleep tonight, so I only have time to mention one.

And actually, one of my absolute favorite literary characters is a secondary. Ariadne Oliver is a recurring character in several of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot mystery novels. She's a wonderfully eccentric character -- an author of mystery novels herself, and Christie's alter ego. She frequently complains about her most famous creation, the Finnish detective Sven Hjerson, just as Christie was known to complain about her famous Belgian sleuth Poirot. Mrs. Oliver (apparently a widow, although we don't really learn much about her husband in the novels) appears in only seven of the books, and a few short stories. I've always wished Christie had seen fit to let her star in a few works of her own.

Booking Through Thursday: Live In

This week BTT asks: "If you had to choose to live within a novel, which would it be?" -- which is a very intriguing question for me at the moment. M and I are in the midst of our move from Virginia back to Texas, and I've been spending the last couple of weeks packing, packing, packing. Oh, and doing a little packing, too! And now we're just days away from hitting the road to follow the van (so to speak) on its way to our new abode.

Sooooo.... While I can't really think of any specific novel I'd like to live in, I really would appreciate the benefits of a teleporter right now -- something that would just scramble all the molecules of all the stuff we've got to move and then reassemble everything, 1500 miles away. And do the same with the hubby and me. So my new-environment-novel would probably have to be science fiction -- most likely one of the Star Trek books. Hey there, Scotty, fire up the old transporter and beam me home!

Teaser Tuesdays: The Key

This week my teaser lines come from one of the vintage mysteries I've been reading: The Key, by Patricia Wentworth -- one of her "Miss Silver" series. I'm reading the Kindle edition on my iPad, so I'm not sure about page numbers, but it's from Chapter 18 and Location 1518 of 3440 (44%):

Darling...it really wouldn't be at all nice to feel you'd been living with a murderer. But...of course the police wouldn't have arrested him unless they were quite, quite sure he'd done it, and it would be too, too dreadful if they were to hang him when he was innocent.

Ah, yes - just too, too dreadful indeed.


Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by mizB at Should Be Reading. If you'd like to read more teasers, or take part yourself, just head on over to her blog.
And please feel free to leave me a link to your Teaser Tuesday post in your comment here.