Sunday, October 26, 2008

Extract of shiver-lovely

"Right now I want a word that describes the feeling you get--a cold, sick feeling deep down inside--when you know something is happening that will change you and you don't want it to, but you can't stop it. And you know , for the first time, for the very first time, that there will now be a before and an after, a was and a will be. And that you will never again be quite the same person you were.

"I imagine it's the feeling Eve had as she bit into the apple. Or Hamlet when he saw his father's ghost. Or Jesus as a boy, right after someone sat him down and told him his pa wasn't a carpenter after all.

"What is the word for that feeling? For knowledge and fear and loss all mixed together. Frisdom? Dreadnaciousness? Malbominance?"

- Jennifer Donnelly
in A Northern Light

One of several passages from that book that had such a true, bittersweet resonance that they left me a little breathless, a little shivery.

Your assignment for today is to share a favorite passage from a book (or poem, or whatever). Same deal as before in regards to posting it in the comments or on your blog.

It can be something you find lovely or sad or funny. No constraints on length. Just make it good! :)

17 comments:

  1. How about:

    "That year, when the trees burned the fire of late summer into their leaves and the ground mist was a ghost of the river, long and wet and cold, the aunt looked from her window to the walls around her and imagined another winter inside them. She began to see the world as a bird sees bars, and she scratched her arms beneath her sleeves."

    -Shannon Hale
    in The Goose Girl

    That might even be my favorite passage from TGG. I love reading it over and over.

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  2. "The last trace of steam evaporated in the autumn air. The train rounded a corner. Harry's hand was still raised in farewell.
    'He'll be all right,' murmured Ginny.
    As Harry looked at her, he lowered his hand absentmindedly and touched the lightning scar on his forehead.
    'I know he will.'
    The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well."

    Oh. Oh, what an ending!

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  3. Okay, now I really want to re-read HP7. (And I loved A Northern Light. Excellent pick!)

    Mine's from I Capture The Castle, pg. 38.

    "There is a bubbling noise in the cistern which means that Stephen is pumping. Oh, joyous thought, to-night is my bath night! I shall go down and be very kind to everyone. Noble deeds and hot baths are the best cures for depression."

    And also the last paragraph of the book, but I won't spoil it. :)

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  4. Here's one I like:

    Pieces
    A bit for someone here.
    A bit there.
    And sometimes they don't add up to anything whole.
    But you are so busy dancing.
    Delivering.
    You don't have time to notice.
    Or are afraid to notice.
    And then one day you have to look.
    And it's true.
    All of your pieces fill up other people's holes.
    But they don't fill up
    your own.

    --The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Mary E. Pearson

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  5. I have two right now... And yes there are a million more but I'm restraining myself to two :)

    The first:

    "He looked at her and tilted his head very slightly in wonder. He had forgotten, as he always forgot, how beautiful she was. Her hair was held away from her face by the ruby and gold headband that crossed her dark brows. Her skin was flawless and so fair as to be translucent. She dressed as always in an imitation of Hephestia, but it was far easier to imagine the impersonal cruelty of the Great Goddess than to see cruelty in the face in the Queen of Attolia. Looking at her, Eugenides smiled.
    Attolia saw his smile, without any hint of self-effacement or flattery or opportunism, a smile wholly unlike that of any member of her court, and she hit him across the face with her hand. His head rocked on his shoulders. He made no sound but sank to his knees..." The Queen of Attolia

    The Second:

    "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms further... And one fine morning--
    So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

    Hope those are interesting enough :)

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  6. Oh and Edge, I love that part! Seriously, one of the best endings EVER.

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  7. from Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta (the characters are talking about Pride and Prejudice):

    "I'd like to think I'm Elizabeth, but deep down I think I'm the one whose name no one can remember. Not Lydia the slut or Mary the nerd or Jane the beauty or Elizabeth the opinionated. I'm the second-youngest. The forgotten one."

    "Yeah, I know which one you're talking about. What's-her-name."

    "Yeah."

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  8. "THE FIRST TEN LIES THEY TELL YOU IN HIGH SCHOOL

    1. We are here to help you.
    2. You will have enough time to get to your class before the tardy bell rings.
    3. The dress code will be enforced.
    4. No smoking is allowed on school grounds.
    5. Our football team will win the championship this year.
    6. We expect more of you here.
    7. Guidance counselors are always available to listen.
    8. Your schedule was created with your needs in mind.
    9. Your locker combination is private.
    10. These will be the years you look back on fondly."

    --Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson.

    (So funny.)

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  9. Oh...which one should I choose? Well, I think I'll just go with my latest.

    'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

    There were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain face, on the throne of England; there were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a fair face, on the throne of France. In both countries it was clearer than crystal to the lords of the State preserves of loaves and fishes, that things in general were settled for ever.'

    A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

    I thought this sounded so cool when I read it last week. :)

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  10. Ooh. I'm really enjoying the results of this contest, Cuileann...lots of oohs and shivers.

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  11. ^.^ I love yours Q!

    your having a contest?

    *starts going through older posts....*

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  12. That's a really hard question. I think I'll go with this...

    Despereaux looked down at the book, and something remarkable happened. The marks on the pages, the "squiggles" as Merlot referred to them, arranged themselves into shapes. The shapes arranged themselves into words, and the words spelled out a delicious and wonderful phrase: Once upon a time.

    "Once upon a time," whispered Despereaux.

    "What?" said Merlot.

    "Nothing."

    "Eat," said Merlot.

    "I couldn't possibly," said Despereaux, backing away from the book.

    "Why?"

    "Um," said Despereaux. "It would ruin the story."


    ~The Tale of Despereaux, Kate DiCamillo

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  13. "How does this happen? To fall in love and be disassembled."

    ~ Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient

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  14. Those are all very cool.

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  15. "I could not be happy with a man whose taste did not in every point coincide with my own. He must enter into all my feelings; the same books, the same music must charm us both. . . .

    Mama, the more I know of the world, the more am I convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much!"

    Sense and Sensibility, volume 1, chapter 3


    I love the quote you had posted too!

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  16. "We cannot choose the time we live in, we can only choose what we do with the time that is given us."

    LotR, FotR, Gandalf

    One of my all time faves.

    Another is:

    "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

    Oh the hilarity of it!!!!

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