- "Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun." - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- “Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.” - Harry Potter & the Philosopher's Stone
- "I lingered round them, under that benign sky; watched the moths fluttering among the heath, and hare-bells; listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass; and wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers, for the sleepers in that quiet earth." - Wuthering Heights
- "'When the day shall come, that we do part,' he said softly, and turned to look at me, 'if my last words are not ‘I love you’ – ye’ll ken it was because I didna have time.'" - The Fiery Cross
- "We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold." - Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas
- "Curley and Carlson looked after them. And Carlson said, 'Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin' them two guys?'" - Of Mice and Men
- "At night I would lie in bed and watch the show, how bees squeezed through the cracks of my bedroom wall and flew circles around the room, making that propeller sound, a high-pitched zzzzzz that hummed along my skin." - The Secret Life of Bees
- "The primroses were over." - Watership Down
- “It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.” - Love in the Time of Cholera
- "1801 – I have just returned from a visit to my landlord – the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with.” - Wuthering Heights
- "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it." - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
- "Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins." - Lolita
- "The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn." - The Picture of Dorian Gray
- "The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which." - Animal Farm
- “Amory Blaine inherited from his mother every trait, except the stray inexpressible few, that made him worth while.” - This Side of Paradise
- "Behind every man now alive stand thirty ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living." - 2001: A Space Odyssey
- "If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book." - A Series of Unfortunate Events
- "'Where's Papa going with that axe?' said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast." - Charlotte’s Web
- Note to Self: comb Peter Pan, aSoUE, Of Mice & Men, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the Shipping News, White Oleander, Tales of Eva Luna, Catch-22, the Scarlet Letter, All Along the Western Front, the Glass Castle, Dry, the Princess Bride, 1984, Animal Farm, Battle Royale, Winnie the Pooh and Dorian Gray for additional critical excerpts...
jul 8 2014 ∞
jul 8 2014 +