Hi-jacking 'a silly book game' from Book Talk site 2 - pt 3

Previously:

"Can you promise me that I will never return to my husband's house?"

Current entry:

"...'Just let me say this. I loved my husband.'

'Well, sure you did.'

...'It's nothing that matters now...Just that we were right for each other, for sure."

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

"You got that child to eat greens? Good God in Heaven."

"I just don't like leftovers"

Winter Love by Han Suyin

"I don't sleep very well, and I've got to swot. .. d'you mind if I go in the spare room this year?"

"...Study is about learning and reflection, not the cramming of texts and information."

The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway

"Had he seen any snakes?"

"Christian men cannot see what we do"

Man Belong Mrs Queen by Matthew Baylis

"Why do you say Philip is your god?"

"Can't recall off the top of my head."

I'll Take You There by Wally Lamb

"But then again, why would white dudes want to change things when they held all the cards?"

"The reader should be reminded that...the human race is incapable of learning anything from history."

Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières

"Are you going to let us all die for nothing?"

"Yes", he said, without looking up from his work.

The Sheik by E M Hull

"Is beauty all that a man wants in his wife?"

"Of course not."

The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

"Why on earth are you standing 'ere skulking, Joe, when you should be talking with your guests?"

"The ... gentleman... is the descendant of the knight, the crusader; he is the defender of the defenseless, and the champion of justice—or he is not a gentleman."

Etiquette by EmilyPost

"Why do you fellows [Frenchmen] make such a lot of fuss over the little bit of grub they give you to eat?"

"Afraid of some hidden component such as pork fat"

Willow Trees don't Weep by Fadia Faqir

"How did you recognise me?"

"The...pink eyes"

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

"Was I the same when I got up this morning?

"The boys' minds had been turned by reading penny dreadfuls"

The Wicked Boy by Kate Summerscale

"Did you ever ask your brother not to kill your mother?"

"There are a thousand ways to die, my dear."

Beauty and the Beast: Lost in a Book by Jennifer Donnelly

"Why did Belle want to leave, Mama?"

" 80 per cent of the men had contracted dysentery or 'Gallipoli Gallop' "

The Wicked Boy by Kate Summerscale

"Is he a bright kind of fellow?"

"He was perfectly intelligent, to be sure,,,but he was unintellectual."

Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough

"You have a sister?"

ʻ . . . two ladies.ʻ

Parallel Lies by Ridley Pearson

ʻYou get a Look at him/ʻ

- - sorry, the question mark and other
upper case punctuation doesnʻt work on this keyboard.

If you change the forward slash into a question mark, is that the question?

... is that the question/ - - 18

Yes.

"You think he's unmanly, do you?"

Vampire Hunter D Volume 25: Island of Immortality by Hideyuki Kikuchi

"What are we supposed to do when you...let the boss get away!"

"He is there," - I pointed upward - "where he can watch you. You cannot see him. But he can see you. Fear the Law"

The Island of Dr Moreau by H G Wells

"We can't massacre the lot, can we?"

"We are not murderers."

Shoot! by George Bowering

"Allan, what were you doing over there?"

"I have arrived at this place from Zanzibar with 115 souls...We are now in a state of imminent starvation"

King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild

"You never write me any more and I just want to know why ???"

"That's the way it should be."

Hope Makes Love by Trevor Cole

"Why are you here?"

"When The Clash came on, we decided to wow them with our dance number"

The Glorious Flight of Perdita Tree by Olivia Fane

"Do you remember those songs I taught you when you were a small boy?"

"I asked him once we were home and I could change out of my wet clothes."

Human Acts by Kang Han

"Might we have groped our way to exchanging a few words, or thoughts?"

"I told him that people who work in our line of business ought to keep their distance from too much internet chat."

The Iraqi Christ by Hassan Blasim

"Good morning, Hajjar. What news of the flowers?"

. . . hoillyhocks in a riot of color
and luminosity.

Evidence by Jonathan Kellerman

ʻDo I look upset, Sturgis/ʻ

"Crikey, I'd better be going."

By Bread Alone by Sarah-Kate Lynch

"What on earth is going on?"

"One of his cousins had bought him a pygmy hippo... He taught it to dance the Zaire rumba"

A General Theory of Oblivion by Jose Eduardo Agualusa

" 'Tomorrow. Six o'clock, usual place. Be very careful. I love you.'
Who might have written that?"

"I didn't understand how Louis could not see what seemed so evident."

We All Should Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

"Is it because women are born with a cooking gene or because over the years they have become socialized to see cooking as their role?"

"You see, there is deep inside man the instinct to kill, just as there is deep inside woman the instinct to nurture."

The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien

"How are you feeling right now?"

ʻLike thereʻs a choice/ʻ - -

// Sorry, I canʻt make a question
mark on this keyboard - -//

Evidence by Jonathan Kellerman

ʻWorking - - howʻ/

"The meter operation lasts a very short time."

Aracoeli by Elsa Morante

"Could he really be a girl?"

"You will have to give him some of your beauty"

The Consequences of Love by Sulaiman Addonia

"Satellite dishes... they are erecting these ugly things on their roofs like minarets. And do you know why?"

"No. It literally never occurred to me."

Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman by Lindy West

"Do they have endocrinologists under the sea?"

"When I said 'no', he refused my handshake, diverted his eyes and disdainfully grunted 'Eh!"

Gatecrashing Paradise: Misadventures in the Maldives by Tom Chesshyre

"What did they want to do: eat my flip flops?"

"We'll be poisoned."

The Torontonians by Phyllis Brett Young

"Can't you do anything about it?"

"Nah. Probbly need special tools"

The Following Girls by Louise Levene

-I hate P.E. Hate all games.
-If you hate them, why the hell do you play so many?

"We realize it too late, after we have been seduced."

Natural Novel by Georgi Gospodinov

"What would happen if the words,'fire, ashes and ice, apocalypse' slipped from his tongue?"

"I don't foresee problems."

New Boy (Hogarth Shakespeare) by Tracy Chevalier

"You got any candy?"

"This is not, perhaps, the appropriate time, but I should like to ask you to take coffee with me when an occasion proves convenient."

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

"Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs?"

"Whatever he said was not audible to the priests in the room"

The Miracle Detective by Randall Sullivan

"Should I become a nun?"

"There is nothing in the world so bright and delicate."

Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne by John Keats

"My dear Girl - what shall I say for myself?"

"Facts are one thing and words are another, like men and women. A thousand women don't make one man!"

Bread and wine by Ignazio Silone

Don Paolo did not lose his patience, but asked again:
"Don't you believe that something ought to be done to escape from the wretched conditions in which we live today?"

>42 hemlokgang: "Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs?"

N.B. That sentence is a pangram; it contains every letter in the alphabet.

Repeating the question:

"Don't you believe that something ought to be done to escape from the wretched conditions in which we live today?"

"Yes, but how much is it going to cost me?"

Holidays in Hell by PJ O'Rourke

"What should the US do about illegal Mexican immigration?"

" 'It's completely normal that Gringo would kill him,"' says David again, his voice trembling."

Abahn Sabana David by Marguerite Duras

"Who are you to create such fear?"

"A failed cereal farmer. An expelled member of the Society for Cultivating the Health"

The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff

"His health is normal. But is he a normal man?"

"He's a pure plodder."

A Year at the Races by Jane Smiley

"What do dogs and cats want?"

"Souvenirs, as in 'memories' in French."

Moonglow by Michael Chabon

"Did you hear the language that came flying out of her mouth?"

"I know. I tried hard to understand her, sympathize with her, give her courage, distract her. I couldn't."

Bread and Wine by Ignazio Silone

"What is this human life?"

"It serves a purpose."

Mirror, Mirror by Gregory Maguire

"Who puts a notion like that into your mind?"

"I hate questions that presuppose an idea."

Someday this Pain will be Useful to You by Peter Cameron

-Dad's having plastic surgery this weekend.
-Cool. What's he getting done?

"...a final abscess to be lanced away."

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

"But what's through there?"

It was surrounded by woods, its streets were muddy and filled with tree stumps, its landscape was swampy and mosquito infested, and its unfinished government buildings stood like Roman ruins in a deserted ancient city.

Empire of Liberty by Gordon S. Wood

"...but if we crown with civic wreath every fortunate patentee of a steam engine or carding machine, every judicious speculator in merinos or Fezzan sheep, what honours have we left for wisdom and virtue?"

"Purpose. Clarity."

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

"Shouldn't you be preparing dinner?"

"I feel a terrible hunger...a hunger..."

Do With Me What You Will by Joyce Carol Oates

"Look, Rachel, you're upset about the hearings, right?"

"It seemed the inevitable fated outcome"

Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea

"What was it that had driven him, through all these months, to positively insist she take birth-control pills?"

The fact that the most of us have married and had families in due time is proof positive that even though the mating instinct be relegated to the garbage heap by elders, youth will still follow it even if furtively and with a feeling of guilt and shame.

With a Southern accent (1948) by Viola Goode Liddell

"Are you going to take the serum, then?" asked Mother.

"I donʻt know where it is. I thought
I packed it. ..."

The Price by June Johnston

ʻWhat do you want to do?"

"Let's walk the plank."

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

"You're not worried?"

"No, but the district nurse rang in about an emphysema case"

The Greatcoat by Helen Dunmore

"What if she turned back to him now and said, Here's your tea, I spent the afternoon in a hut, in the middle of the fields, with another man? "

"I don't approve of such goings-on. You seem to half believe your own imaginations."

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

"Would you like to be a gull?"

"I like that idea. That's cool. That's possible."

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann.

"You think I'm a retard?"

"He was not interested in the things other sailors lived for... Instead he was interested in shades of blue"

The Same Earth by Kei Miller

"What do you study?"

Jones County, Texas.

Doc Anderson: we Live Many Lives
by Robert E. Smith

"What did you find out?"

"THE DOG FOUND IT IN THE FRONT YARD."

Angels by Marian Keyes

"What do you recommend?"

"Pressurized red blood"

B as in Beirut by Iman Humaydan Younes

"Where's my hand?"

"In the House of Pies, stoopid!"

Angels by Marian Keyes

"Should I call nine-one-one?"

"Careful what you say"

The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee

"Why hadnt he accepted her offers of food?"

"He didn't get enough of a buzz going."

Angels by Marian Keyes

"Was it fun?"

"Not so obviously. A pinprick to my ego."

The Search by Iris Johansen

"Progress?"

"Now there is another nerve-racking complication."

The Vanishing Velázquez: A 19th Century Bookseller's Obsession with a Lost Masterpiece by Laura Cumming

"...which was it?"

Asked what kind of wine he preferred, "Other
people's," he said

(Diogenes the Cynic in) The Cynic Philosophers from
Diogenes to Julian quoted by Diogenes Laertius
Tr. by Robert Dobbin

"Why does (Plato) the great philosopher . . . who journeyed to Sicily for the sake of the finer dishes here, not partake of them now?"

"Nausea"

As For Me and My House by Sinclair Ross

"What about Steve? Have you seen him?"

"I only met him that one time."

The Oil Rig by Frank Roderus

"What are you fellas celebrating anyway, Harry?"

"Philip had a letter today with a postal order in it for twenty-five dollars."

As For Me and My House by Sinclair Ross

"Things are patched up between you, then?

"Even more energy consumption for
that setup, though."

"Belly Up" by Maggie Clark

'You don't mind, do you, Dash?"

After he returned to Washington, a local newspaper called his remarks "tactless," an "untimely and ill-considered intrusion into a question of which he evidently knows little."

Sloss Furnaces and the rise of the Birmingham District : an industrial epic by W. David Lewis

"I just don't understand the white people around here," a black citizen told Salisbury. "They seem to act so crazy. . . . Don't they know there is a limit to what people will stand?"

"This may not be the most normal way to look at things, though."

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

"Don't you agree?"

"That stuff's bull."

Summer of Night by Dan Simmons

"Did he stay for breakfast?"

"I can swear that no one - no one, mind you - but that girl approached the table."

Mignon G. Eberhart's Best Mystery Stories by Mignon G. Eberhart

"Why was Al Muller there at the house?"

'That's why we came back here."

The Oil Rig by Frank Roderus

"They've already started drilling, then?"

"Oh--it's--it's too dark."

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

"Do you remember what happened this day last year, Marilla?"

'I'm not going to comment about it now."

Paybacks by Christopher Britton

"Can it wait a few minutes?"

"What have you done? Get right up this minute and tell me. This minute, I say."

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

"Isn't it just like a palace?"

"All I know is that it is not far from
a place that i like to go."

Assaulted Pretzel by Laura Bradford

"Are you sure?"

He was interrupted at this point in the dialogue—which, in spite of all the warnings of the maiden, had been carried on, in the warmth of its progress, somewhat more loudly than was absolutely necessary—and brought back to a perception of the error by a voice of inquiry from within, demanding of Bess with whom she spoke.

The Yemassee : a romance of Carolina (1835) by William Gilmore Simms

"Well, why don't you bring him in? Have you forgotten your manners, Bess?"

"I thought you didn't like the idea."

"Fat Bubble" by Tom Easton

"You think it helps?"

"Hey, thanks!"

Summer of Night by Dan Simmons

"Are you jerks ready or are you gonna keep talking all day?"

'I'm right here . . ."

Small Town Justice by Valerie Hansen

"How did you reason it out?"

"It's basic psychology."

The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney.

"But how does it feel?"

"Wildly uncomfortable"

In Search of The Red Slave by Mike Parker Pearson

"Who wrote the book?"

"Yancy. Yancy Sinclair."

Doc Anderson: We Live Many Lives
by Robert E. Smith

Where do you get the stuff that you peddle?"

"Under the bed..."

Summer of Night by Dan Simmons

"Now what do you think you saw?"

"Outwardly he was very modest."

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
by Ramakrishna Tr. by Swami
Nikhilananda

"When one sees God, does one see Him
with these eyes?"

"I'm sure you don't, Sir, I'm sure you don't."

England, England by Julian Barnes

"Paul, can you sort this out?"

"Here some distinctions are necessary."

The Chomsky Foucault Debate on Human Nature
by Noam Chomsky and Michel Foucault

"Have you ever talked to any French marxist
philosophers?"

"A pained expression came over Nora's face and her eyes glazed."

The Good People by Hannah Kent

"Do you think we ought to send for the doctor?"

"Get the first aid kit from under the front
seat, and then come and help me . . ."

The Search by Iris Johansen

"Do I detect a sour note?"

"Nora continued to whip him with nettles"

The Good People by Hannah Kent

"You believed this woman when she told you your paralytic grandson was an otherworldly sprite?"

"You must think I'm crazy."

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

"Why are you here?"

"I charge thirty dollars a day, plus
mileage and expenses."

"The Magnolia Murders" by O'Neil De Noix

"Do I make the call? Do I chance it?"

"Not now. Maybe later."

Summer of Night by Dan Simmons

"You don't think this...this apparition you saw when you were suffering from fever was a demon, do you?"

'That's impossible."

Small Town Justice by Valerie Hansen

'What became of the guy?"

"Maybe he went home."

Summer of Night by Dan Simmons

"What was he shouting?"

"'Oh, that's as ridiculous as the tramp theory!.'"
(punctuation revised)

The Body in the Belfry
by Katherine Hall Page

"Hi, Charlie; where's your big friend?"

"He's climbing that pine tree in the back and using the hole to get in."

Still Life with Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen

"What's that for?"

"Institutions for the intemperate and later
for the mentally unstable."

Arthur and Sherlock; Conan Doyle and the
Creation of Holmes by Michael Sims

'You come from Wales, don't you, sir?"

"My father is Indian... Quechua or Aymara."

Let me speak! by Domitila Barrios de Chungara

"Why are you hitting my sister?"

Isabella Bruce could only hope that her empire would send reinforcements, and soon.

Independence lost : lives on the edge of the American Revolution by Kathleen DuVal

St. Augustine? the Bahamas? Jamaica?

"It's no use talking to Mabel today -she's away with the fairies."

Dementia Positive by John Killick

"What activity helps you to start the day positively?"

"You don't always know what you are
getting into."

The Body in the Belfry
by Katherine Hall Page

"I assume you have a lawyer, right?"

"A shrewd splendid man of business- he will have arrived before your return."

In far Bolivia by Gordon Stables

"I don't want a wife but say, Bill, why don't you marry her? I guess she'd make ye a tip-topper."

"I will discuss it with you after this trip is over."

Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World by Rita Goldman Gelman

"Why don't you come with us to our village?"

" . . .random liberties taken on neighbors'
properties. . ."

"George Washington's Secret Six"
by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yeager

"So I must ask my friends to hazard their own
fortunes and lives?"

"Calm down. Worse things have happened."

Still Life with Bread Crumbs: A Novel by Anna Quindlen

"What the hell has happened to you?"

"Don't answer him, Emilia!"

Nostromo by Joseph Conrad

"What meant this unimpressed, frigid behaviour?"

It beat worrying about herself.

A Fine and Bitter Snow by Dana Stabenow

"Didn't he tell you?"

"It's a matter of indifference... we aren't mutually exclusive."

The Absolute at Large by Karel Capek

-Don't stay down there long.
-Why not?

"I don't think we'll get busted" I replied

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

"Are you sure this is a good idea, man?"

"When... he ordered a 101-gun salute to be fired off the palace battlements, 11 buildings were destroyed in Asuncion"

Forgotten Fatherland: The Search for Elisabeth Nietzsche by Ben Macintyre

"Why did Nietzsche turn against Wagner?"

"Sarah musn't hear about the murder and the body!"

Compass by Mathias Énard

"Is this where you hid your wedding dress?"

" ... and like everything else about the
place it was a humdinger."

The Oil Rig by Frank Roderus

"Do you intend to give in? . . ."

"Considering it."

Disobedience by Jane Hamilton.

"How long you figure it'll take?"

"The trip through the woods took a little over an hour....".

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon

"What do you think you're going to see?"

"I'll do what I can, but I can't make
promises at this stage."

Farthing by Jo Walton

"Could he have been knocked out first?"

"Course his ear is gone, just a little bit of skin left, but he's up and around."

Barkskins: A Novel by Annie Proulx

"Do we have to go back to Detroit?"

"You must absolutely on no account tell what I have told you."

The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon

"Whatever made you take off so nonchalantly in that old-fashioned getup?"

"I love Watteau's work."

The Improbability of Love: A Novel by Hannah Rothschild

"Why do you want to know?"

"Just at present, I'm fearfully curious."

Farthing by Jo Walton

"Going to tell them you were a lady pirate?"

"No point in saying I don't, I can't, I won't."

Mister Nightingale by Paul Bowdring

"Like, why are you bringing all this up?"

"I'm updating Pono on all this."

Wired Hard by Toby Neal

"So Mano was single?"

"(he) is already blessed with four wives"

A Ride to Khiva by Fred Burnaby

"The only part of my luggage which puzzled the douane officer was the sleeping bag.
-What is it for?"

It wreaks havoc subtly, almost imperceptibly.

White rage : the unspoken truth of our racial divide by Carol Anderson

Could the slaughter of more than six hundred thousand men, the reduction of cities to smoldering rubble, and casualties totaling nearly 5 percent of the U.S. population provoke America's come-to-Jesus moment?

"We'll do it tonight."

The Dinner by Herman Koch

"What did my brother know about heredity?"

"Your brother was my pride, my joy, and our future."

The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild

"What have you got mixed up in?"

" . . . you wouldn't want to hear some of
the things I've done in my time."

Wired Hard by Toby Neal

"You sick?"

"I am just full of eau gaseuse"

The Fishing Fleet : Husband Hunting in the Raj by Anne de Courcy

"My work is exclusively with men... I live in a world populated by one sex.
-What effect did it have?"

"It is worth incalculably more than that."

"Callahan's Con" by Spider Robinson

"Flagler, Flagler - - guy that invented Florida?"

"It was inevitable."

Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien

"What is it that he promises you?"

"A pike of at least 3lbs"

Beethoven: The Man Revealed by John Suchet

"To what did the people of Vienna turn to celebrate?"

. . .a potlatch.

A Fine and Bitter Snow ; by Dana Stabenow

"Why'd you hit him?"

"I got sick and tired of them"

The Persian Boy by Mary Renault

"What were the daggers for?"

" . . . I will hear you coming and kill her."

Wired Hard by Toby Neal

Was this his pathology?

"Such an one is impolite to strangers, intemperate of speech and uncharitable."

Kim by Rudyard Kipling

"Is he not wise and holy?"

" . . . the worst of men."

Cantos 64-65 by Ezra Pound

"A navy! Can we have one? Without trade?"

Haidara headed back upriver to Timbuktu, his boat riding low in the water, weighed down with footlockers and piles of camel-skin sacks.

The Bad-ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer

In Timbuktu, Mahmoud Zouber looked on with astonishment. "You found all that?" he said.

"Ah and that's not all"

The Persian Boy by Mary Renault

"He is now the richest man in the world. What can one give to such a man?"

The man brought out a shopping list: fifty goats, two mules, a huge quantity of rice, millet, and fabrics.

The Bad-ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer

"Who told you about that?" the man demanded.

"The new schoolteacher, soft, green, and untried."

Losing Battles by Eudora Welty

"But what was his hurry for?"

"Oh, stop it . . . You know what there is to find out."

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

'To Spain? Why not to China?"

"You'll only get as far as the hospital"

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

-Tonight I have a little surprise for you. Something you'll like.
-What's that?

"You will be sent to a school."

Kim by Rudyard Kipling

"And -- the more money is paid the better learning is given?"

"And money ran out."

Diary of an Oxygen Thief by anonymous

"She started the engine again and steered it angrily away... What had caused this futile display of emotion?"

I found out that it had been supposed by the Board that I would live at the Bottom Pub - a hopeless arrangement for any doctor.

Doctor in the Sticks by D. A. Bathgate

How do they know I'm going to the West Coast? Do I already look like one of those Wild West types?

"I don't know. . . . . . I don't think so."

Breaking Cover by J. D. Rhodes

"Is the person who abducted them in custody?"

"It'll be in the incident report, if you care to look."

Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King

"Act of God Insurance. Does that buck have Act of God Insurance? Because to a deer, that's what getting shot must be, right?"

"Poor things, poor things."

The Boys in the Trees by Mary Swan

"They don't have many things, do they?"

"Every inch and object within the cell were sauced in the pervasive odors of prison: sweat, mildew, Lysol."

Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King

‘Oh my God,’ Deputy Treat said. ‘What is that?’

"The Police Laboratories"

Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

"Will you speak at the Parkwold Methodist Guild?"

‘Not on your life.'

Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King

‘You’re just going to let him die? What would that prove?’

"We do things our way . . . . ."

Dark Justice by Jack Higgins

"So where does that leave you?"

"standing knee deep in summer."

Doctor in the Sticks by D. A. Bathgate

"Hello!" he said. "What's gone wrong? What are all you chaps doing here?"

"We wait. It won't be long."

Revival by Stephen King

"Why are you immune?"

"Who knows? Stranger things have happened."

Dark Justice by Jack Higgins

"So where does that leave us?"

"A great distance from here and different in every way!'

The Choke by Sofie Laguna

"I looked up from my feet into her warm pink face and she said, 'Go on, what would you like?'"

"A new diaper"

Benediction by Kent Haruf

-I'm going to ask you to bury something up here.
-Bury what, honey?

"No, no! It's an unrelated matter!"

Dark Justice by Jack Higgins

"Don't you think Selim should have a
police escort, sir?"

"I honestly expected it."

Playing with Fire: The Highest Highs and Lowest Lows of Theo Fleury by Theo Fleury

"Chuck, you never call me. What's wrong?"

"Keep me in the loop by E-mail."

Guilty Minds by Joseph Finder

"And are you going to tell me these details?"

"There are a lot of things I don’t understand about that night."

Strange Weather by Joe Hill

"He had a camera that destroyed minds. Did he also have an umbrella that squirted thunderstorms into the sky?"

"Killed himself recently . . ."

Cyanide Wells by Marcia Muller

"And go where?"

"To judge a baby show"

Marriages are made in Bond Street by Penrose Halson

"What happens when a woman gets old?"

"I don't know."

The Good Soldier
by Ford Madox Ford

"Don't you think you will get married?"

"Not until I get a job."

Matilda by Roald Dahl

"But how did she know it was you?"

"That's for you to find out."

Mr. Monk Gets on Board by Hy Conrad

"Why would he lie about that?"

'He thought his chances of escape were very slim.'

Strange Weather by Joe Hill

'from a helicopter how could you tell if a gun was loaded or not?'

"Well, no use speculating on it now."

Cyanide Wells by Marcia Muller

". . . and how would he know about you
in the first place?"

"Some things are so obvious and stand out even to the most imperceptive"

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym

"Why did you say you wanted bitter when you obviously don't like it ?"

"You sound as if you know . . ."

Cyanide Wells by Marcia Muller

"How come you're so interested?"

'The answer, of course, was maddeningly simple: Harriet.'

Strange Weather by Joe Hill

'How does a cloud know what a coatrack looks like?'

"What are you talking about?!"

Mr. Monk Gets on Board by Hy Conrad

"Do you want us to load the luggage?"

""I pondered, knitting my brow, scratching my chin and wagging my head"

A Grave for a dolphin by Alberto Denti di Pirajno

"What was that girl doing in his shack?"

". . . found himself in a railway carriage with
a quite pretty girl."

The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford

"What's the matter? Whatever's the mater?"

'the bed had lost all sense of itself and now looked like the world’s largest melted marshmallow.'

Strange Weather by Joe Hill

'So why, he wondered, was some part of him quivering with the effort to restrain hysterical laughter?'

"...swede wine"

Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

"Why are you wearing three of Mrs Starkadder's red shawls?"

'They were feathery soft to the touch and held a capsule of lovely, cozy warmth.'

Strange Weather by Joe Hill

'What makes you think he’d want you to wrap him up in tinfoil like someone’s leftovers?'

"I'll do it."

The Vendetta Defense by Lisa Scottoline

"Can you identify them? Did you see anything?"

"They were my children"

Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante

"Shall I massage your temples?"

"Are you on them now?"

The First Prophet by Kay Hooper

"What the hell happened?"

"I had an excessive reaction"

The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante

"You have a good pink colour, are you sure you're not turning into a little pig?"

"I'll try."

The Fifth witness by Michael Connolly

"How do you know that?"

"It was a conclusion I had reached years before, but it was pleasant to hear it confirmed."

At the Existentialist Cafe by Sarah Bakewell

"What about capitalist greed, colonial repression, poverty and racism?"

"Why the hell didn't you warn me?"

The First Prophet by Kay Hooper

"You mean they've got people reading the papers - - just looking for mention of psychics!?"

'My colleagues swear that these methods work—at least sometimes.'

The Unquiet Grave by Sharyn McCrumb

'Are you writing a book about your adventures among the mad?'

"The Atlas of Celestial Bodies."

Quiet Flows the Una by Faruk Sehic

"What kind of river is it when you can't see the bottom?"

'the broad, dark waters of the Ohio rolling on to the Mississippi and on to its freedom in the Gulf.'

The Unquiet Grave by Sharyn McCrumb

'So tell me: What are you in for?'

"They can't just do that! This is
evidence."

The Fifth Witness by Michael Connolly

". . .you want to respond to all of that?"

'Talking to a small-town lawyer isn’t very daunting when you have been speaking with the dead.'

The Unquiet Grave by Sharyn McCrumb

'What happened a few days ago, Mary Jane? Your answer to prayer—what was it?'

"Can't you possibly hush it up?"

Black Coffee by Charles Osborne: adapted
from a drama by Agatha Christie

"Are you saying that it was murder?"

'He killed her. He wrung her neck like a chicken’s and put her at the bottom of the stairs to make it look like an accident.'

The Unquiet Grave by Sharyn McCrumb

'would they call you crazy?'

"For some people, this . . . has the banal
blandness of an infomercial."

Overcomign Anxiety, Worry, and Fear
by Gregory Jantz

"Do you all of a sudden feel light-headed.
disconnected and on edge?"

'it’s a terrible thing. Gives me frights to think of it.'

The Unquiet Grave by Sharyn McCrumb

- In October 1863, he escaped.
- Did he really? How?

"(He) is a throwback to another age."

Trader of Secrets by Steve Martini

"What shall we do about the three U. S.
citizens?"

'I wish one and all long and happy lives, no matter what may become of them afterwards.'

God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian by Kurt Vonnegut

'Cigars, of course, are made of trail mix, of crushed cashews and granola and raisins, soaked in maple syrup and dried in the sun. Why not eat one tonight at bedtime?'

"All right, boss. No need to get shirty."

Death at Victoria Dock by Kerry Greenwood

"Who was your priest?"

"Rattle is what he calls himself."

Barkskins by Annie Proulx

"Why?"

'because few were as stubborn as he was.'

Stallo by Stefan Spjut

‘Are you sure you have to go?’

"I'll just find my taxi; it should be around here."

Death at Victoria Dock by Kerry Greenwood

"You're a fake, aren't you?"

"You don't suppose I find it very amusing to be stuck up here by myself on the stool of repentance..."

Remembrance of Things Past Volume 1 by Marcel Proust

"What are all those good people laughing at over there?"

"You haven't got a drain. You've got a pipe that ends under the lawn."

Elisabeth's Daughter by M Fredriksson

"Do you think you're fit enough for a walk round the house?"

‘I don’t think so,’

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

‘Believe what?’ asked Shadow. ‘What should I believe?’

"LIFE IS NOT A PARAGRAPH."

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

"You want another coffee, Megs?"

"I began to suspect that the Eritreans had spent the last thirty years sipping coffee...and eating blue ice-cream for breakfast."

Ciao, Asmara by Justin Hill

"Why is there war in Northern Ireland?"

"It's a kind of sickness."

Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett

"Are they okay?"

"Well, no war going on just now."

Ice Palace by Edna Ferber

"Look, Chris, you going to actually go through with this?"

'he said nothing. It seemed the smartest thing to say..'

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

‘How do I look?’

"Ferociously good-looking"

Ciao, Asmara by Justin Hill

-Terhas has had a baby boy.
-How many now?
-Four.
Enough?

‘I think this one’s a keeper.’

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

'So what if they did get thrown out of the place? Wasn’t it worth it, worth anything, to say that you had ridden on the world’s biggest carousel?'

"Of course!"

Candide by Voltaire

"Do you think we're ingrates?"

"Yeah."

Sleeping with Fear by Kay Hooper

"Where to?"

"We're going to Paris."

Candide by Voltaire

"Is it true that people in Paris are always laughing?"

"Non! Y a une llmite. =*No! There is a limit.

Cantos by Ezra Pound

"Was it?"**

* Untranslated French in Pound's original.

** Hard to find a question in this title. Pound and his characters go in more for statements than questions.

‘So you people keep telling me.'

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

'You know what the biggest cause of unnatural death is among farmers in the Midwest?’

"Five bullet holes in the head"

I, Rigoberta Menchu by Rigoberta Menchu

"If people were brave enough to give their lives...wouldnt we be brave enough to do the same?"

'a cheerful gesture of casual genocide.'

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

‘What did they want?’

"Lord knows."

Thank you, Mr. Moto
by John P. Marquand

"No, you fools! Where is he?"

"On our day off we went home to the farm..."

The Harvey Girls: Women Who Opened the West by Lesley Poling-Kempes

"Was it easier, or even better, to be a working single woman in the West than elsewhere?"

‘It’s not too bad,’ said Crowley, ‘when you get used to it.’

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

'What’re they prayin’ about?’

"Why does that sound scary to me?"

Sleeping with Fear by Kay Hooper

"What do you mean?"

'Adam hesitated. His reading hadn’t provided a quick explanation for this;'

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

‘I don’t recognize this,’ he said. ‘What is it?’

"It was the first pet dog Lise had seen"

Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy by Rumer Godden

"Would you buy me dresses and a coat with fur on it?"

"Guess you'll have to go home instead."

"Grand Theft: Spacecraft"
by R. Garcia y Robertson

"Was it something we said?"

"You won't be told."

A Kind of Loving by Stan Barstow

"Where are you working now, then, Herbert?"

"MAYBE I JUST DON'T REMEMBER."*

Sleeping with Fear by Kay Hooper

"What's the difference?"

*Italics in the original.

'Mr Shadwell’s accent was unplaceable. It careered around Britain like a milk race. Here a mad Welsh drill sergeant, there a High Kirk elder who’d just seen someone doing something on a Sunday'

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

‘Nipples, laddie, nipples,’ said the voice testily. ‘How many nipples hae ye got?’

"I don't think you're meant to talk to me like that."

The Gate of Angels by Penelope Fitzgerald

"Where's your bed, Flo?"

"Look. There."

Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey

"Where the hell did those vomit zombies come from so fast?"

"You didn't stop him?!"

"The Making of Velveteen Dream" by Chris Muessig

"Big rivalry?"

"There is enormous variation in the size"

Hidden Histories by Mary-Ann Ochota

"Is that ancient rock art?"

"Maybe . . . we haven't figured out all the possibilities."

Certain Prey by John Sandford

"Looking through my desk?"

"Such was its condition that 'it appear'd not unlike a great block of cow turd' "

Hidden Histories by Mary-Ann Ochota

"What does a deserted plague village look like?"

'remarkably resistant to change. No one seemed to build new houses there. The population didn’t seem to move much.'

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

'I must be overdoing something, he thought guiltily. But what?'

"A perfect orgy of exercise: Gymnastics in the morning, then fencing, and after that a six hours walk"

Elizabeth, Empress of Austria by Egon Caesar Conte Corti

"Tell me now, who do you think I am?"

" ʻAh, so youʻre the God-haters!ʻ "

Pontius Pilate by Ann Wroe

" ʻIf you were asleep, then how could you see it?ʻ "

'One’s senses are always tracking sights, sounds, smells, and sensations'

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O by Neal Stephenson

'The only school in the New World and what do they teach?'

"Hungarian sympathies"

Elizabeth, Empress of Austria by Egon Caesar Conte Corti

"He cared nothing for his life and was indifferent to punishment.

-Well, then, why did you try to make off afterwards as fast as you could?

" . . . . .went for a walk and got lost."

Murder and Misdeeds
by Helen Goodman

"But what if she was stuffed into a closet? . . . What then?"

"With views such as these, no wonder Rudolf had a running battle with the Cardinal Archbishop"

A Habsburg Tragedy by Judith Listowell

"I still have great hopes but will they come true?"

"Something like that."

Murder and Misdeeds
by Helen Goodman

What more can we do?"

"Infected with syphilis on top of gonorrhea...there was not yet any effective treatment"

A Habsburg Tragedy by Judith Listowell

"I recommend you to the ministerial council...are you willing to undertake this illustrious task?"

"O.K. . .. . . I start tomorrow."

The Walnut Door by John Hersey

Beginning? What beginning?"

"The first part of 'Chronicles of an English Village' "

Miss Buncle's Book by D E Stevenson

"Why did everyone flock to her dull parties and consume the poor fare provided for them there?"

"Perhaps someone. . . celebrating a birthday or a wedding?"

Our Kind of Traitor by John Le Carreʻ

"Iʻm not acting stupidly, am I?"

"When you get to the stage of 'holding forth', you will at least fascinate yourself...even if your hobby is trained fleas or the Yogi cult"

Live alone and like it by Marjorie Hillis

"Do really nice women have them?" (affairs)

"I think you ought to come to terms with reality."

Eyeless in Gaza by Aldous Huxley

"Who? Ledwidge? Is he anyone special?"

"He was superb...capering about on stage in a Charles II wig, brandishing a toy sword"

Daphne du Maurier and her Sisters by Jane Dunn

"Did he kiss you?"

"How clever of you to think of it."

Oliver Herford, quoted in Viva la Repartee by Mardy Grothe

"Mr. Buckley, we have only a few moments left. Could you sum up in ten seconds?"

Ted Koppel to William F. Buckley, quoted in Viva la Repartee by Mardy Grothe.
(Buckleyʻs one-word reply was: "No.")

"That dog should be put down"

The New Moon with the Old by Dodie Smith

-Poor child, she expected me to be shocked.
-And you weren't?

"Yet another loose end for you to tie up."

Choice of One by Timothy Zahn

"Heʻs told you that, has he?"

"It would take pages to explain how this was brought about."

The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough

"What had it all cost?"

"Part of the loot went for gambling, part for horses, and part for women. The rest I spent
foolishly."
George Raft, quoted in Viva la Repartee
by Mardy Grothe

ʻHowʻs Harpo?"
Samuel Goldwyn, quoted in Viva la Repartee by Mardy GRothe

"Fell into the kettle, into the simmering milk"

The Blue Sky by Galsan Tschinag

"Why had he given away Brother and Sister?"

"I hardly think you need to ask that question."

Star wars: Choices of One by Timothy Zahn

"Do you deny these charges?"

"My only reply to such critics is that they have not the slightest idea of scientific methods."

The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough

"Well....have I answered the charges? Have I defended myself?"

"You really believe that?"

Chill of Fear by Kay Hooper

"You saw her, didnʻt you?"

"In various gradations of nakedness"

The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar

"I want some fun, Bel. Do you remember fun?"

"Peter just tried to make me believe I had."

The Other Mother: A Novel by Carol Goodman

"What do you mean by erratic and unstable?"

" . . .the extraordinary newel-lamp, the stairs that were never the same and of which even the number of steps seemed to vary from day to day . . ."

Watt by Samuel Beckett

ʻWhere does he live?"

"In the thick oozing mud"

The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard

-He's got a jellyfish....
-Where have you put him, Neville?

ʻHow should I know?"

Star Wars: Choices of One
by Timothy Zahn

"Youʻre flying with mercs now, right?"

"Of course, I'd use the plane ticket to go somewhere else. Tbilisi, even Istanbul."

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra

"Yes, but are we going to Grozny?"

"Of course I'm awfully flattered but of course it's out of the question"

The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard

"The man has twenty-four camp beds which he says William told him to deliver. Who can they be for?"

"Dux Bellorum -- Gaius Albinus, -- Mr. White . . ."

Low Midnight by Carrie Vaughan

ʻYou donʻt trust me?"

"Quite slowly and with horrible accuracy she spat on him. 'Schweinhund!' she said. "

The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard

"I've had dinner with him once or twice. Why shouldn't I?"

"He's the Prime Minister of Russia."

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra

"What do you really want?"

"Enormous lock-knit bloomers"

The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard

"What's your opinion of lust?"

"Arenʻt you rather young to be starting . . .?"

The Mad King by Edgar Rice Burroughs

"Where is . . . the royal ring of the kings of Lutha?"

"Let's look at your hand"

The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard

"Want a Hanky?"

"You are the best of all possible mothers"

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

"Are there no doctors in Spain?"

"I don't know...I didn't ask."

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra

"Does it matter?"

"Itʻs better if I donʻt say."

Cyanide Wells by Marcia Muller

"Why? and by whom?"

"You'll have to discuss that with the manager, I'm afraid"

A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon

-Does it have a jet engine or a peller?
-Does what have a jet engine or a propellor?

"A Caldorf VII on an airspeed without too much refitting."

Star Wars: Choices of One by Timothy Zahn

"Any of this sounding familiar?"

"Not at their age! I shouldn't think they can remember more than about five years back"

Marking Time by Elizabeth Jane Howard

"What shall I get for her birthday?"

". . . . . attend. . . the theatre on the night before."

The Thurtell-Hunt Murder Case
by Albert Borowitz*

"Q. Do you know where he is"

*Know author.

"Without a stitch on, doing the Lambeth Walk on the billiard table with Mr Hugh's golf club"

Marking Time by Elizabeth Jane Howard

-We have to make the best of two not very good choices
-Which are?

". . . . . a standard engagement line.
(or) . . . take us into combat range."

Star Wars: Choices of One by Timothy Zahn

"Then where ARE we going?"

"It was Vietnam one minute and Senegal the next"

The Poor Christ of Bomba by Mongo Beti

"What have I done to be dismissed from school?"

"You can never tell, and that -- the not knowing -- it chews you up."

Precious Cargo by Craig Davidson

"If you worked hard and sacrificed, you should succeed. Isn't that what our parents told us?"

"Iʻd say itʻs kinda more than that."

The Entitled by Frank Deford

"Did you scream then?"

"I was trying not to laugh."

Confusion by Elizabeth Jane Howard

"Couldn't we play charades?"

"Oh no, we've had a long day of travel."

Forgiveness: A Gift from my Grandparents by Mark Sakamoto

"Don't you want to stay for a nightcap?"

"Itʻs too late, isnʻt it?"

Crybaby of the Western World
by John Leonard

"What is the truth about you?"

"I dig ferns from the swamp and sell them from door to door in the city"

Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter

"Did you get any stockings?"

(Playing on 298)

"If I have any, Iʻll be sure to let you know."

Star Wars: Choices of One by Timothy Zahn

"Is there some reason youʻre expecting justice to come calling?"

"Look," Jeff said, "I need your help on Cupertine. I find him, I can put a lid on this whole Family. Get all of them what they deserve."

Gangsterland: A Novel by Tod Goldberg

"What about the body in the dump?"

"He didn't like women with no flesh on their bones"

All Change by Elizabeth Jane Howard

-Would it be alright for me to have a bit of cheese---it's not for me---it's for Rivers.
-And who is he when he's at home?

"HE ended up a slave-trader. YOU: a spy."
(emphasis added)

Crybaby of the Western World by John Leonard

"You know who did this, donʻt you?"

"Ronnie was always smart about letting people like Paul Bruno do the dirty laundry for them."

Gangsterland: A Novel by Tod Goldberg

"Were you doing something illegal?"

"Appears that way."

The Boat People by Sharon Bala

"What did you do?"

"Me and my journalistic brethren keep you heroes real."

The Entitled by Frank Deford

"I didnʻt ask you -- youʻre not married are you?

"We are!"

American War by Omar El Akkad

"Which of those is your husband?"

"Darling, I've no idea"

All Change by Elizabeth Jane Howard

"Didnt the girls being on diets make them quite cheap to take out?"

"That's right."

American War by Omar El Akkad

"Girl, tell me, when did you last eat a steak like this?"

"First tell me why youʻre asking."

Never Street by Loren Estleman

"Did you mention hiring me when he called?"

"Mummy would be absolutely furious!"

All change by Elizabeth Jane Howard

-Your mother's been so offensive to me that I have to go.
-What did she say?

"She looks as though she's been living with pigs."

The Bear and the Nightingale: A Novel by Katherine Arden

"Have you done with churches yet?"

" . . . Your spiritʻs arms, they can reach out and really touch anything you want to hold."

A Year with Hafiz; daily contemplations; tr. by Daniel Ladinsky by Hafiz

"The earth is a host that murders its guests. But what can die?"

"Komodo dragon (if small enough)"

All Change by Elizabeth Jane Howard

"When she's about 40, chances are that you'll drop her for someone younger and what happens to her then?"

"You are not clairvoyant."

The Mountain Story by Lori Lansens

"Doesn't this all feel like a dream?"

"It was wrong. . . . . . And youʻll have to make it right."

Stalemate by Iris Johansen

"Do I send someone else?"

"Let's consider it for a moment."

The Attention Merchants by Tim Wu

"But how?"

"He improvised hinges from a coat hanger and fitted sticks for the necessary stiffness"

Couples by John Updike

-We're in 9, you're in 11.
-Do you think you and I should switch?
-Shouldn't the ladies be consulted?

"Whatever works, do it...."

LaRose by Louise Erdrich

"Do you think you're a saint?"

" . . . leaves the 'why' to religion!" (punctuation added)

Objections Sustained; subversive essays on evolution, law
and culture. by Phillip E. Johnson

"How then could the mind even conceivably be
something human intelligence cannot duplilcate?"

"We know God is not mocked"

Couples by John Updike

"Why don't you call me any more?"

"Yeah, I was going to call you at our usual time about it."

Impulse by Catherine Coulter

"Thatʻs true of nearly everything in life, isnʻat it?"

"...even mundane everyday things like drying vegetables for the winter."

Graffiti by Petrie Harbouri

"Do you have any objections, maybe?"

"Iʻm being investigated. I need a lawyer."

First Family by David Baldacci

"Then what?"

"After this, Leonora avoided men for a long time."

Graffiti by Petrie Harbouri

"Why did you marry her in the first place?"

"Why NOT?" (emphasis added)

Impulse by Catherine Coulter

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm traveling to the Isle of Skye with my baby brother on a stolen motorbike, without a driving licence, looking for a someone who could be in Portugal for all we know. "

boom! by Mark Haddon

"How did I get here?

"One ground rule: youʻre not asking the questions, I am."

First Family by David Baldacci

"F B I? what the hell are you talking about?"

"Seventy-four years of probation"

How Many Years by Marguerite Yourcenar

"Would you like some money?"

"What did he do, rob a post office?"

boom! by Mark Haddon

Why aren't the army or the police here?

"If there is no body, then there was no crime"

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

‘What are you laughing at, Anansi’s child? Have you lost your reason?’

"I've got as little something wrong with my waterworks"

The Green Mile by Stephen King

"What happened? For heavens sake, you look like you saw a ghost."

"Why, this it is! See, see!"

Henry VIII by William Shakespeare

"Was not one Doctor Pace in this manʻs place before him?"

"You had a bad dream"

Falling by Elizabeth Jane Howard

-I've left Edwin.
-Why?

'...there is so much darkness inside him: so much anger, so much envy, so much lust.'

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

'Why did you cut it off?'

"Eh?"

"Catʻs Lair" by Christine Feehan

" ʻDonʻtʻ WHAT?"

"Don't tell them anything."

Holding the Line: Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike of 1983 by Barbara Kingsolver

"Will the politicians--who this election year call for our votes and our trust--turn out to be summer soldiers?"

"Theyʻre not as sweet as they seem, are they?"

Impulse by Catherine Coulter

"What have we here?"

'the miraculous stigmata of an almost-forgotten goddess.'

Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman

‘Why are they scared? What are they scared of?’

"The DPS also arrested, without knowing it, one of our lawyers. He heard things he couldn't believe."

Holding the Line: Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike of 1983 by Barbara Kingsolver

"When will it be over?"

"Sheʻll be going back to the compound
this morning."

Impulse by Catherine Coujlter

"....those bright eyes of hers, what are they--green?"

'They were the green of emeralds.'

Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman

'What happens when the moon rises?’

"...chose the easy way out(!)" (punctuation added)

Sleight of Hand by Kate Wilhelm

"Why do you rule out the possibility of either suicide or an accident?"

"He only had one arm."

Lab Girl by Hope Jahren

"Are you sure?"

" ʻAh, this is marvelous. . . . Imagine skill reaching such heights."

Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings
by Chuangzi. Tr. by Burton Watson

" ʻPlease, may I ask how to rule the world?ʻ "

"Determination and dominance"

Corentyne Thunder by Edgar Mittelholzer

"Wha' is a piano?"

‘Listen,’ he said. ‘Can you hear it?'

Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman

‘What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever seen in July?'

"Itʻs just the way the radiation is degrading the bioneural system."

String Theory, Book I: Cohesion by Jeffrey Land

"Was that a joke?"

‘Perhaps. You can call me Mister Rabbit. Ask me what time it is.’

Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman

‘Why are you wearing a rabbit mask?’

"I'm sorry. I was working"

The Wine Dark Sea by Robert Aickman

"Aren't you glad I made you wear shorts?"

I donʻt reply, and Jimmy leaves it alone.

Collecting the Dead by Spencer Kope

"And when can we expect this
e-mail?"

"Four or five times in all"

The Wine Dark Sea by Robert Aickmann

"I know you attended my father's funeral...how was it?"

" . . . but it will be the work of many days to even understand it."

String Theory: Book I: Cohesion
by Jeffrey Land

"They bound you?"

‘Stay with us. Let us love you,’ they whispered, and they reached out with sharp talons and teeth.'

Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman

'Amy picked up the squiggly whatsit. It was cold and much heavier than it looked. ‘Why did you confiscate it?'

"What brings you to this neck the woods, anyway?"

The Reluctant Witness
by Kathleen Tailer

"Are those important?"

'When we lose those We have lost everything. Without them, we might as well be dead.'

Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman

‘Why were the Skeleton People so angry with you in the first place?'

"Interesting. . . . How DID that happen?"
(emphasis added)

String Theory, Book 1: Cohesion by Jeffrey Lang

ʻWould the self-repair systems be able to finish their work before that?"

‘Do you wish to find out?’

Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman

‘What does that mean? That door, with all the stencils on it?’

" . . . to prove that there was a conspiracy, right?"

The Reluctant Witness
by Kathleen Tailer

"How are you going to get in?"

'We have a warrant to search these premises'

The Outsider by Stephen King

'Didn’t he disappear a long time ago?'

"It was that or die . . ."

String Theory: Book 1: Cohesion by Jeffrey Lang

"All right. How much do I have to get ready?"

‘Maybe nothing,’ he said. ‘Maybe everything.'

The Outsider by Stephen King

‘Have you noticed anything odd about your husband’s behavior over the last few weeks?’

"I donʻt know what youʻre talking about. Who told you that?"

First Family by David Baldacci

"So you had him lie to her, in other words?"

'Jeannie considered this idea doubtful, perhaps even sexist, but it wasn’t the time to say so.'

The Outsider by Stephen King

‘Mom? Mom, what’s wrong?’

"Call me in two days, and Iʻll let you know where we stand."

The Reluctant Witness
by Kathleen Tailer

"Apparently; . . . and why didnʻt she take you to a hospital?"

‘My mother used to subscribe to Fate.’

The Outsider by Stephen King

‘What were you running from, kiddo?’

"Old Bones, the human shit detector."

Dead Heat by William Murray

"Did he at least take you to the races?"

'We went to the air force museum as a family, and to the Boonshoft, which is a science museum. The girls loved that.'

The Outsider by Stephen King

‘And who taught you to drive?’

"Just a rich daddy's boy with no manners, that's all."

Dead Heat by William Murray

"Why did that man say that?"

‘That happens to be the dirty truth.’

The Outsider by Stephen King

'I have a crazy idea. Want to hear?’

"That's okay."

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

"Why was I filling the hamster's water beaker with vodka?"

'That was a very good question, one you couldn’t answer.'

The Outsider by Stephen King

‘What did he look like today, Grace? The man in your dream.’

"Her most brilliant dream was that any day now, with the railway on their doorstep, a handsome stranger would seek her out and transform her life, as well as the lives of her wretched brothers, forever."

Four Respectable Ladies Seek Part-time Husband by Barbara Toner

"So where will you live?"

'I’m open to suggestions.’

The Outsider by Stephen King

- I’d like to talk to him tonight.
- But why? What have you found out?

"He saves money, he saves disfigured sticks that resemble disfigured celebrities, and, most of all, he saves food."

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

"So you found this thing in your suitcase, and your first instinct was to put it in your mouth?"

‘Well, Betsy, considering my current situation, that’s sort of a don’t ask, don’t tell kind of deal.’

The Outsider by Stephen King

-See if you can find out what was on his fingers. If anything.
-What do you think might be on them, ese?’

"The reek of snake"

The Little Friend by Donna Tartt

"What kept the snakes from climbing out?"

"The hawk...a fine ploy. A fine weapon."

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

"How long did it take you to train the bastard?"

"That could take years."

Stalemate by Iris Johansen

"Youʻre smiiing? . . . Did I miss something?"

"The taxidermy/ methamphetamine shack."

The Little Friend by Donna Tartt

"Maam, if you don' mind my asting, hi come your boys come to call you Gum?"

"I honestly don't know."

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

"Do you have any real suspects?"

"Two hundred and ten."

Sycamore Row by John Grisham

"So something north of thirty thousand?"

'There really is no end to it, is there? And no explaining it.’

The Outsider by Stephen King

'Suppose it really is some kind of supernatural creature, Ralph? And what if it finds out you’re looking for it?’

"And then the fun begins."

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

"What did it seem to be?"

"Grave-robbing . . . I don't . . ."

Stalemate by Iris Johansen

"Can you get DNA from a skull thatʻs been in the swamp for years?"

'… I don’t know, these are not things I ordinarily talk about …'

The Outsider by Stephen King

'Would either of you like to tell me why you have arrested Flint City’s 2015 Man of the Year?

"I donʻt know. Iʻd like to tell you that heʻll rush out and start burning coca fields . . ."

Stalemate by Iris Johansen

"When can I see him?"

'...on garbage day.'

The Outsider by Stephen King

‘What does it say on my fingers? Read it to me.’

"Itʻs about Ek."

The Papers of Tony Vetch
by William McIlvanney

"Agreed, Macey?"

‘I,’ she says, ‘haven’t,’ as slowly as she can, ‘any idea, Arthur.’

The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt

'Bricks! Tossed sometimes from the tops of the tenements down onto unsuspecting heads. Have you ever seen what that looks like?’

"Thought of as unsavory"

To the Is-land by Janet Frame

"How could he escape if he was dead?"

"Foolishness and silliness! I never heard such nonsense."

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

"How will you travel?"

‘Train to Jupiter with connection service on toward Neptune.’

The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt

‘Is this the train to Jupiter?’

"No, no, son."

The Papers of Tony Veitch
by William McIlvanney

"You know Paddy Collins?"

'He’s afraid of germs and he seems to have some sort of disorder involving numbers.'

The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt

'Have you seen anything suspicious? Any unsavory visitors coming to his room, any friends?'

"Oh dear, oh dear . . ."

The Papers of Tony Veitch
by William McIlvanney

"Whatʻs her name?"

‘Louisa,’ she tells him, and he nods.

The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt

‘What you were saying before. If there is no dream, there is no possibility for what?’

"All in good time."

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

"Can I get there by candlelight?"

"Not if we can help it. One can never
be sure."

Stalemate by Iris Johansen

"What were you doing camped on
my doorstep?"

'studying the mysterious patterns the dust of dead people makes as it floats through the last light of day.'

The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt

‘Perhaps you would like some peanuts?’

"Yes, sir."

Necessary Action by Julie Miller

ʻYouʻre that worried about SueAnn and
her brother?"

'The poor child was born with her legs fused together and her mother didn’t want to have them separated, thought she’d given birth to a mermaid.'

The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt

'Have you ever eaten human flesh?’

"The remains of both Royalist and Parliamentary troops who fell at the Battle of Aylesbury."

Hidden Buckinghamshire by Jean Archer

"What is he doing up there on the roof?"

"What strange things are you talking about?"

Necessary Action by Julie Miller

"Is she all right?"

‘Well, I think we should find out. Don’t you?’

The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt

‘What in God’s name are you talking about?’ the policeman asks.

"The ancient treacle well."

Oxford Marco Polo Pocket Travel Guide 2018 - with pull out map (Marco Polo Guides) (Marco Polo Pocket Guide) by Marco Polo

"How about a Bambi burger?"

"Get lost!"

Intent to Kill by James Grippando

ʻArenʻt you forgetting something?"

She nods in agreement. ‘The device,’ she says. ‘The device,’ I say ‘Yes.’

The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt

‘If there were a machine that could carry you into the future, would you go?’

"Why are you asking me?"

Necessary Action
by Julie Miller

"How do you know he didnʻt kill that man?"

‘I’m certain of it,’ I tell him. ‘I’m certain of it.’

The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt

‘Arthur, what line of business are you in?’

"Soup ladle shaped like a dinosaur...pizza cutter that looks like a bicycle- funny hand-selected gifts."

Oxford Marco Polo Pocket Travel Guide 2018 - with pull out map (Marco Polo Guides) (Marco Polo Pocket Guide) by Marco Polo

"Want to go a step further?"

‘His last words.’

The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt

‘How,’ Walter asks, visibly floored, ‘did you make it?’

"Traditional hospitality will guarantee that you are well looked after, and, as always in Uzbekistan, well fed."

Uzbek Dictionary & Phrasebook by Nicholas Awde

"Can you take me to the minefields?"

‘West, then,’ said my friend, pointing to the dark tower of the palace. And we commenced to walk.

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

‘You have never had any personal encounters with any of the crowned heads of Europe?’

"The Achaemenids, a hugely influential Persian dynasty"

Uzbek Dictionary & Phrasebook by Nicholas Awde

"I have broken my glasses. Can you repair them?"

‘That will not be possible, I am afraid.'

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

‘While we wait, why do you not tell me what we are waiting for?’

"The National Assistance Man"

The Envoy from Mirror City by Janet Frame"

"What if I do have a baby?"

‘I believe I can confidently state that you shall,’ he told me. ‘And not with a corpse this time.'

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

‘What’s it like? Being dead?’

"It's like a street where the children don't play any more"

The Envoy from Mirror City by Janet Frame

"I guess we share the kitchen and the john outside?"

‘Well, yeah. I guess.’

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

‘How did you die?’

"Carp cooked in a pan and served with prunes"

Montenegro by Marco Polo

"Casinos...the best guests are the Italians...would you like to do what they do and see if you are any better?"

'What do you advise me to do?’

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

- I shall already be pining for and planning my masterpiece.
- And what would that be?’

Decoding Egyptian Hieroglyphics. (title)

Decoding Egyptian Hieroglyphics; course guidebook by Bob Brier

Why (did) Egypt Need Hieroglyphs (?)
(chapter heading)

'The paths that ghosts follow are written on the land in old words.'

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

- she still had time while she lived to repent.
- Repent what?

", , , drinkinʻ shaddas in the summer."

The Papers of Tony Veitch
by William McIlvanney

"Can I buy you boys a drink?"

‘I don’t know,’ he admitted. ‘I don’t do that stuff any more.'

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

'Did you ever see a picture of one of those cinnamon buns they said looked like Mother Teresa?'

"It will be the best meal you ever tasted"

Joe and Azat by Jesse Lonergan

"What's America like?"

The phone is silent.

Collecting the Dead by Spencer Kope

"So whatʻs this all about?"

'Spontaneous combustion.'

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

‘What’s that you’re writing?’

"Fine, Iʻll tell you: The letter , , , ."

First Family by David Baldacci

"But why would you withhold it?"

'Because the human mouth was not shaped to say her true name.'

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

‘Fancy a spot of sightseeing?’

“You’re a gruesome companion for a day’s outing.”

Gaudy Night by Dorothy L Sayers.

“Harriet, will you let me show you how to meet an attack if it ever does come?”

"For old times sake."

Duma Key by Stephen King

"Where would a thing like that have come from to begin with, Edgar?"

"The planet Uranus. . ."

Black Spring by Henry Miller

Have you ever sat in a railway station and watched people killing time?

'killing time... and wondering why junkies and winos congregate on the pavement outside Earl’s Court station.'

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

‘So what is it people do around here for fun?’

"Well, something civilised.
Gin and tonic?"

The Papers of Tony Veitch
by William Mcllvanney

"Ye saw that wumman?"

'If the dishwasher had not been haunted – well, possessed, I guess, would be more accurate – She’d still be here today.'

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

‘It’s a free country, isn’t it?’

"Iʻve been studying it for the last three hours."

Black Spring by Henry Miller

"Oh, it was, eh?"

‘Indeed it was, Virginia,’ said Zebediah T. Crawcrustle.

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

‘So you were in the nick?’

"Someone must have said something, otherwise you wouldn't have thought of it."

The Shooting Party by Isabel Colegate

"Now in Hungary there is always snow, I suppose?"

"I see we have a witness."

Story Thieves: Pick the Plot
by James Riley

"How will you make it right when you're dust, my dear Kara?"

"i canʻt."

The Papers of Tony Veitch
by William McIlvanney

"You got a reason for joukinʻ the polis?"

'That’s what comes of living in a slum on the lower tiers, I suppose.'

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

'So – have any of you found anything the Historians’ Guild might wish to purchase?'

"Her thin glace leather shoes, damp from walking among the tombstones"

Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym

"Miss Morrow was still at the bottom of the garden...Surely she couldn't have been cutting flowers all this time?"

'...but at least they are cut into perfectly geometrical shapes.'

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

'Where is she? Where is the girl?'

"Now we get to walk some more."

Exception to Murder
by Anne Wingate

"You got some money?"

'she laughed and dropped three square bronze coins into his palm.'

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

'These poor people! Who are they?'

"It's alright, they won't hurt you."

Eon
by Alison Goodman

"Tell me quickly, what happened in the council?"

'The room filled with officers eager to hear the aviatrix’s advice.'

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

'Do you have anything you can trade?'

"A few pitted old saucepans, which she had filled with clay"

Mary O'Grady by Mary Lavin

"Why can't you speak plain English?"

"Iʻve worked out a way to beat Jack with words."

The Papers of Tony Veitch
by William McIlvanney

"Gets us the late drink, doesnʻt it?"

'We should get some sleep.'

A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson

'Why would anybody have a cabin here?'

"Are you kidding? . . . I wouldnʻt have it if they offered it to me.

Exception to Murder by Anne Wingate

"What is it? . . . Telephone?"

'I pull myself to my knees and crawl around the cell to try to locate it, but for a time it stops and I cannot. Perhaps, I think, I imagined it after all.'

A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson

'What is it? What am I saying? What message am I repeating?'

"Bang! It's instantaneous. Pussy, you're dead."

A Funny Old Quist by Evan Rogers

"Do you think your father could get me a fox?"

"I havenʻt thought that far ahead."

Stalemate by Iris Johansen

"What terms?"

'It’s business as usual.'

A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson

'What could there be here that I would possibly want to see?'

"Come along, Jack. I'll show you the Eighth Wonder of the World."

The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

"Why do you want to tell such crazy lies?"

'What, then, was the truth of the situation? Why was I the only one who could see the house changing?'

A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson

'Who was dead? Why?'

"Your Joe will be fine. I promise you."

Stalemate by Iris Johansen

"Are you making excuses?"

'that was a long time ago,” he said. “We were just kids.”'

A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson

'“Is it a nude beach?'

"Let's go with sixteen."

Trails of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle
by Rick Riordan

"What thing?"

'It is nothing I am familiar with.'

A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson

'Wilkinson has been watching me. Why?'

"You've had an accident."

The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

"Whatchoo think about that lady?"

"I am content . . . I am myself amazed"

Nathan the Wise
by Paul dʻAndrea after G. E.Lessing

"Am I your daughter?"

"You got it, doc. Hunnert per cent."

The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

"Have I lost my legs?"

"Yes, a lot of them have been carried off."

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol

"But permit me to ask you the exact number?"

'To be honest, I don’t remember how many she saw. But the point was, as long as we were in the house, there were sometimes three children and sometimes four.'

A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson

'What are you going to tell the others?'

"Where did ʻthe otherʻ . . . bob up from?"

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol

ʻWhy make a bet on a thing like that?"

'she decided it was an indication of a troubled mental state and insisted I seek treatment.'

A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson

'What did he hope to find?'

"This is not a choice, Lord Eon."

Eon by Alison Goodman
(I recently made my new record...reading a 531 page book in 2 DAYS!!!)

"What did you have in mind?"

'a convenience store that had one of its six aisles completely dedicated to jerky.'

A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson

'And what exactly do you deserve?'

"A leg enhancement. Well, why not? They're doing everything else."

The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood

"What is she doing here, on this side of the mirror?"