atomicules

Mostly walking the dogs

Such Were The Thoughts Of The Young Mrs Touchet

"Such were the thoughts of the young Mrs Touchet. Much later, when she was older, she wished she'd voiced them. At the time, four talkative men - two of them jovial, one vampiric, and the last just incredibly loud - were altogether too much for her. They were four sides of a box through which no noise of her own could escape."

The Fraud by Zadie Smith

I’ll try to leave it as just three quotes. I had more though. And I’d made some notes with page numbers that I forgot to finish before I returned the book to the library, so presumably that would have been even more quotes.

Anyway, there was a character that I envisaged as Matt Berry, but I can’t recall who now, perhaps William. And I found it really interesting how it blended fact and fiction and by the end I had to look up whether some bits actually happened or not.

How Much More Passion Maybe Aroused By Phantom Damage

"Not for the first time Mrs Touchet was struck by how much more passion maybe aroused by phantom damage done to female 'honour' than by anything actually done to a woman herself."

The Fraud by Zadie Smith

I am trying to restrain myself and not blog all the quotes I saved.

Overestimated The Literary Significance Of Weather

"Even as an adolescent, William fatally overestimated the literary significance of weather"

The Fraud by Zadie Smith

I finally got around to joining the library so more quotes I’m afraid.

The Salon Reminded Janet Of The Lunatic Asylum

"The salon reminded Janet of the lunatic asylum. People came in, looking normal and cheerful. They were ushered by white-coated, unctuous attendants into a neon-lit inner torture chamber of throbbing machines. There they say, gowned and scarlet-faced and in no time at all they had lost their identity, their features had lapsed and swollen in the intense heat, their hair bristled with small metal daggers or their scalps were packed with wiry cylinders. Glassy-eyed, they gazed into the mirrors. Hope ebbed from the day."

O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker

Ending with a long one and a great one.

That’s not even all the quotes I wrote down, but that’ll do.

That Year The Daffodils Would Wait No Longer

"That year the daffodils would wait no longer. They forced their way through the earth's chill carapace and bloomed in the tarnished snow. At once a wild wind swept in from the west and whirled them into crazed confusion, snapping the stems, tearing off the golden trumpets, tossing and flattening the survivors."

O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker

Many memories of the poor daffodils doing just this.

The Last Throes Of Winter

"'The last throes of winter,' they said, each time this happened."

O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker

Global warming has changed things, but this was true not so many years ago. As is the next quote.

No One Lived As Far North As She

"No one lived as far north as she. Hector was there to meet her at Aberdeen station. There was a sparsely decorated Christmas tree at the end of the platform."

O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker

Loved how many mentions of Aberdeen there were.

Instead They Lit A Enormous Bonfire And Burned A Human Effigy

"Fortunately, at St Uncumba's Halloween was not celebrated, for it was an evil pagan ritual. Instead they lit a enormous bonfire and burned a human effigy."

O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker

Her Virtue Had Remained Intact

"Janet had dealt with this new hazard in her life: she had perfected a technique of simultaneously seizing the assailant's hair, walloping him on the nose and kneeing him between the legs. Her virtue had remained intact."

O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker

This book is funny, but really, underneath, it’s deeply sad. Still a fantastic read though, which is why I have so many quotes from it.

They Never Stop Talking

"You know I can't be doing with them. They never stop talking, especially Melanie. Typical English."

O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker

By this definition I must actually be Scottish.

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