Category Archives: Literature

Discovery

Posted on May 1, 2017 by

From Jack Gance by Ward Just (1989): I was attempting to devise novel polling methods. A man’s dark heart was incomprehensible, but his mind was not. A dream was easier to discover than a nightmare.

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Vocabulary

Posted on April 7, 2017 by

From Volume 3 of A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth (1993). All these words to learn. Had to read with a pen, to highlight that not known or understood. Partial list, from Volume 3. Longer list, if Volumes 1 and … Continue reading →

Posted in Language, Language Learning, Literature | 1 Comment

Suffocation

Posted on February 2, 2017 by

From Paris Requiem (2001) by Lisa Appignanesi: He stared out at the courtyard and felt the walls transform themselves into those of a suffocating fortress–a prison of conflicting emotions…

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Tombstone

Posted on December 30, 2016 by

From Paris Requiem by Lisa Appignanesi (2001). At a graveside service: He heard a sob and wondered whether it was his own. He had come a long way to do his grieving… Thought I’d left it at home

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Elinor

Posted on December 18, 2016 by

From Paris Requiem by Lisa Appignanesi (2001): You’ve heard all Elinor’s remarks about suicide. She talks of little else. She, with all her advantages. Yesterday, she made me lose my temper. I should tell you that I rarely lose my … Continue reading →

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Rewind

Posted on November 27, 2016 by

From Elmore Leonard’s Pronto (1993). Joyce Patton, describing You know what happens when you play a country tune backwards? You get your girl and your truck back, you’re not drunk anymore and your hound dog comes back to life. I … Continue reading →

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Wasp, Ant

Posted on November 16, 2016 by

From Elmore Leonard’s Pronto (1993) in which the protagonist, Harry Arno, discusses his wartime experience guarding poet Ezra Pound in Italy: Once, I asked him how he was doing. He said he was watching a wasp build a house with … Continue reading →

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