We’re a fan of the audiobook at my house for this very reason:
“It took people 10 years to figure out that while stuck in a morning commute, they could be listening to a book.”
~ Paul Hilts, Publishers Weekly
Posts Tagged ‘quote’
Quote of the week
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010Quote of the week
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010Hello, folks. Sorry for the lack of posts this week. My blog was affected by the angry hacker that screwed up the Messenger site, and although our mighty webmaster Todd has been working diligently to get everything back up and running, it’s a tedious, time-consuming process.
I want to give him a virtual “thanks” for all of his hard work this week. All of your favorite features will be back online soon at wcmessenger.com, so check back often!
Now on to the quote of the week …
I’m still reading “Outlander,” so I’m going to share a little jewel from chapter 7, “Davie Beaton’s Closet.” Claire has time-traveled from the mid-1940s to the 1740s. She was a field nurse in World War II, and in this scene, she is cleaning out the cabinets of Dr. Beaton, the previous doctor in residence at the castle, where Claire is now staying.
“The chest was the repository of the surgical side of Beaton’s practice. Within were a number of sinister-looking saws, knives, chisels, and other tools looking more suited to building construction than to use on delicate human tissues. The stench apparently derived from the fact that Davie Beaton had seen no particular benefit to cleaning his instruments between uses. I grimaced in distaste at the sight of the dark stains on some of the blades, and slammed shut the lid.”
Quote of the week
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010In all my reading this week, there wasn’t one sentence that seemed worthy of being named “quote of the week.” So I thought it would be fun to do another game. This one is similar to a quote game we played earlier in the month.
These are the rules: Grab the book nearest you right now. Post the first sentence of the story, along with the book’s title and author, as a comment. Remember to use the closest book.
My husband and I used to play this game at Barnes and Noble. We would randomly pull books from the shelves and see who could find the best first line, which is, of course, a true indicator of a book’s worth. 
Here’s my submission:
“Keith, the boy in the rumpled shorts and shirt, did not know he was being watched as he entered Room 215 of the Mountain View Inn.” ~ “The Mouse and the Motorcycle,” by Beverly Cleary
Quote of the week
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010Although I haven’t given up on “Gone With the Wind,” I started a new book this weekend called “Backyard Giants.” It’s a nonfiction book that follows Dick and Ron Wallace, a father/son team, in their quest to grow a 1,500-pound pumpkin.
This is serious business to the Wallaces, and author Susan Warren describes what these enormous gourds look like in chapter 1:
“The finished fruit often look less like the traditional, orange, Halloween jack-o’-lanterns than like semi-deflated balloons from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade that have drifted into the garden.”
Quote of the week
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010I’m putting a different spin on the quote of the week today. I saw this game on Facebook a month or so ago and thought it would be fun to do here.
These are the rules: Grab the book nearest you right now. Turn to page 56. Find the 5th sentence. Post that sentence, along with the book’s title and author, as a comment. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest or the most intellectual. Use the closest book.
“A movie begins to play in my head, with emotion pulsing underneath it, and I stare at it in a trancelike state, until words bounce around together and form a sentence.”
~ Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott
Quote of the week
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010Although I’m still reading “Gone With the Wind,” I thought I’d share a quote from a magazine article I read this week.
Before going to the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo last weekend, I just happened to read “Take in the State Fair,” by Garrison Keillor in the July 2009 issue of National Geographic. We’re in the middle of doing some stories at the stock show, so this article was of particular interest, not to mention that it was written by Keillor.
But if you’ve ever visited the State Fair of Texas, the Fort Worth Stock Show or even the Wise County Youth Fair, you can relate to this.
No. 3 on Keillor’s list of “Ten Chief Joys of the State Fair” is:
“To mingle, merge, mill, jostle gently, and flock together with throngs, swarms, mobs, and multitudes of persons slight or hefty, punky or preppy, young or ancient, wandering through the hubbub and amplified razzmatazz and raw neon and clouds of weiner steam in search of some elusive thing, nobody is sure exactly what.”
Quote of the week
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010Quote for this week is from “Gone With the Wind,” chapter 6. Everyone has gathered at the Wilkes for the barbecue and ball when Ashley is to announce his engagement to Melanie, and the men are having a “loud” discussion about whether the South should go to war with the North.
This is from Mr. McRae, described as “the deaf old gentleman from Fayetteville.”
“You fire-eating young buck, listen to me. You don’t want to fight. I fought and I know. Went out in the Seminole War and was a big enough fool to go to the Mexican War, too. You all don’t know what war is. You think it’s riding a pretty horse and having the girls throw flowers at you and coming home a hero. Well, it ain’t. No, sir! It’s going hungry, and getting the measles and pneumonia from sleeping in the wet. And if it ain’t measles and pneumonia, it’s your bowels. Yes sir, what war does to a man’s bowels – dysentery and things like that – ”
So relevant today. No matter the day or decade, war remains the same – controversial.
Quote of the week
Thursday, January 7th, 2010
Although my holiday could be classified as a smashing success, my family has faced continued illness in the days since. In the midst of administering medication and being up half the night, the blog has taken a back seat.
In an effort to get it back on track, I thought I’d start with a “quote of the week,” even though it’s Thursday and not Wednesday.
As you might have guessed, I’m still reading “Gone With the Wind.” I’m not much farther along than I was last week, but I am continually surprised when I come across a line that makes me laugh or giggle to myself.
This week’s quote is one of those. It’s from chapter 4 when Scarlett was planning how she would make Ashley “realize” his love for her.
“She lay in the silvery shadows with courage rising and made the plans that a sixteen-year-old makes when life has been so pleasant that defeat is an impossibility and a pretty dress and a clear complexion are weapons to vanquish fate.”
So true …
Quote of the week
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
I was finally able to start “Gone With the Wind,” and although I’m far from my 20 pages per day goal, I am already interested in the story.
I’ve read two chapters, or 39 pages to be exact, and this is what I’ve learned so far:
1. I don’t like Scarlett.
2. Or the Tarleton twins.
3. Jeems is the smartest and most likable character.
Quote of the week goes to the Tarleton twins’ mother. She does not like Scarlett and is especially unhappy that both of her boys claim to be in love with the spoiled Southern belle.
“‘It will serve you right if that sly piece does accept one of you,’ she said. ‘Or maybe she’ll accept both of you, and then you’ll have to move to Utah, if the Mormons’ll have you – which I doubt … All that bothers me is that some of these days you’re both going to get lickered up and jealous of each other about that two-faced, green-eyed baggage, and you’ll shoot each other. But that might not be a bad idea either.’”
Now that’s a hardcore mom. (Phrase coined by my 6-year-old.)
Quote of the week
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
Our family is still reading “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” and we should finish it tomorrow, Christmas Eve. And of everything I’ve read this week, this little gem is still providing the funniest, most entertaining quotes. I did upload a different cover today … for a change of pace. 
This is from last night, chapter 5, and Mother needs a real, live baby to play baby Jesus in the Christmas pageant.
“Mother had called everybody she knew, trying to scratch up a baby, but the closest she came was Bernice Watrous, who kept foster babies all the time.
“‘I’ve got a darling little boy right now,’ Bernice told Mother. ‘He’s three months old, and so good I hardly know he’s in the house. He’d be wonderful. Of course, he’s Chinese. Does that matter?’”