A random selection of excerpts from our reading, first posed as a contest to members by Carolyn.
“There are hundreds of thousands of species of love, separately invented, each more ingenious than the last, and every one of them keeps making things. “
“As certain as weather coming from the west, the things people know for sure will change. There is no knowing for a fact. The only dependable things are humility and looking.”
“Soon the world will be returned to the healthy intelligences, the collective ones. Colonies and hives. “
The Overstory – Richard Powers
“Redemption and resurrection of the body were understood as physical, not just metaphysical, realities and therefore the body even in death and dissolution preserved a surviving identity”
This Republic of Suffering – Drew Gilpin Faust
“When it came to a consideration of possible ways of drawing to a close his earthly sojourn, the thought of being at his desk with the ink drying on the last words of a final poem, was an altogether agreeable one”
Winter – Christoper Nicholson
“The old Bowden house stood, low-storied and broad-roofed, in its green fields as if it were a motherly brown hen waiting for the flock that came straying toward it from every direction.”
“There is a great many such strayaway folks, just as there is plants” continued Mrs. Todd, who was nothing if not botanical. “I know of just one sprig of laurel that grows over back here in a wild spot, an’ I never could hear of no other on this coast….Tis a real Sant Bowden, out of its own place.”
“There was something about the coast town of Dunnet which made it seem more attractive than other maritime villages of eastern Maine.”
“We were standing where there was a fine view of the harbor and its long stretches of shore all covered by the great army of the pointed firs, darkly cloaked and standing as if they wanted to embark. As we looked far seaward among the outer islands, the trees seemed to march seaward still, going steadily over the heights and down to the water’s edge.”
The Country of the Pointed Firs – Sarah Orne Jewett
“She picked the house out herself, after months of riding the back roads in Calhoun County, because she thought it was pretty, because it was close to my brother Sam’s house and my other kinfolks, because the hill always seemed to have a good breeze on it, other reasons, some silly, some not.”
All Over But the Shoutin’ – Rick Bragg
“It would be a different church if I were running it.”
The Ninth Hour – Alice McDermott
“One life’s already been given to save your skin. I won’t give you mine as well.”
“The New York Times has a big mouth.”
Then, Britain blinked.
Say Nothing – Patrick Radden Keefe