Friday Finds & Quotes from The Wise Man's Fear

Friday Finds

Hosted by Should be Reading

I've recently started spending more time on Goodreads, hanging out in groups and chatting with other book lovers. Thanks to some of the new people that I've met there I've added a whole bunch of new books to my TBR pile.  

If you've read any of these books tell me what you thought of them.

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The Rook by Daniel O'Malley

The body you are wearing used to be mine.

So begins the letter Myfanwy Thomas is holding when she awakes in a London park surrounded by bodies all wearing latex gloves. With no recollection of who she is, Myfanwy must follow the instructions her former self left behind to discover her identity and track down the agents who want to destroy her.

She soon learns that she is a Rook, a high-ranking member of a secret organization called the Chequy that battles the many supernatural forces at work in Britain. She also discovers that she possesses a rare, potentially deadly supernatural ability of her own.

In her quest to uncover which member of the Chequy betrayed her and why, Myfanwy encounters a person with four bodies, an aristocratic woman who can enter her dreams, a secret training facility where children are transformed into deadly fighters, and a conspiracy more vast than she ever could have imagined.

Filled with characters both fascinating and fantastical, THE ROOK is a richly inventive, suspenseful, and often wry thriller that marks an ambitious debut from a promising young writer.


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Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti by Genevieve Valentine, Kiri Moth

Come inside and take a seat; the show is about to begin...

Outside any city still standing, the Mechanical Circus Tresaulti sets up its tents. Crowds pack the benches to gawk at the brass-and-copper troupe and their impossible feats: Ayar the Strong Man, the acrobatic Grimaldi Brothers, fearless Elena and her aerialists who perform on living trapezes. War is everywhere, but while the Circus is performing, the world is magic.

That magic is no accident: Boss builds her circus from the bones out, molding a mechanical company that will survive the unforgiving landscape.

But even a careful ringmaster can make mistakes.

Two of Tresaulti's performers are entangled in a secret standoff that threatens to tear the circus apart just as the war lands on their doorstep. Now the Circus must fight a war on two fronts: one from the outside, and a more dangerous one from within.

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Double by Jenny Valentine

When the sixteen-year-old runaway Chap is mistaken for a missing boy named Cassiel, his life changes dramatically. Chap takes on Cassiel's identity, gaining the family and friends he's always dreamed of having. But becoming someone else isn't as easy as he hoped—and Chap isn't the only one hiding a secret. As he teeters on the brink of discovery and begins to unravel the mystery behind Cassiel's disappearance, Chap realizes that he's in much deeper danger than he could have imagined.




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This isn't the kind of book I would normally have any interest in reading since I've had my fill of teen vampire stories but a review that I read (unfortunately I can't remember where) convinced me that this books is different and that I should give it a try. I hope they are right.

Team Human by Justine Larbalestier, Sarah Rees Brennan

Just because Mel lives in New Whitby, a city founded by vampires, doesn't mean she knows any of the blood-drinking undead personally. They stay in their part of town; she says in hers. Until the day a vampire shows up at her high school. Worse yet, her best friend, Cathy, seems to be falling in love with him. It's up to Mel to save Cathy from a mistake she might regret for all eternity

On top of trying to help Cathy (whether she wants it or not), Mel is investigating a mysterious disappearance for another friend and discovering the attractions of a certain vampire wannabe. Combine all this with a cranky vampire cop, a number of unlikely romantic entanglements, and the occasional zombie, and soon Mel is hip-deep in an adventure that is equal parts hilarious and touching.

Acclaimed authors Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan team up to create a witty and poignant story of cool vampires, warm friendships, and the changes that test the bonds of love.

After all, you can't just steal a life and expect to get away with it.

Book Quotes : The Wise Man's Fear

 

It's been a couple of months since I finished reading Patrick Rothfuss's The Wise Man's fear and I still haven't gotten around to writing the review. The truth is that I can't think of what to say other than "this book is awesome and you'll love it, unless you didn't like The Name of the Wind (Bk 1), in which case you won't want to read this one either."  So in the meantime, while I try to find the right words to express how much I really loved this book, I'll share with you a few of my favourite quotes from it.

- It is as they say: a heavy purse makes for a light heart

- No man is brave that has never walked a hundred miles. If you want to know the truth of who you are, walk until not a person knows your name.

- It's the questions we can't answer that teach us the most. They teach us how to think. If you give a man an answer, all he gains is a little fact. But give him a question and he'll look for his own answers.

- Death was like an unpleasant neighbor. You didn’t talk about him for fear he might hear you and decide to pay a visit.”

- I knelt and opened up my lute case. Moving the lute aside, I pressed the lid of the secret compartment and twisted it open. I slid Threpe's sealed letter inside, where it joined the hollow horn with Nina's drawing and a small sack of dried apple I had stowed there. There was nothing special about the dried apple, but in my opinion if you have a secret compartment in your lute case and don't use it to hide things, there is something terribly, terribly wrong with you.

- I walked across the polished marble floor and sat on a red velvet lounging couch. I idly wondered how exactly one was supposed to lounge. I couldn't remember ever doing it myself. After a moment's consideration, I decided lounging was probably similar to relaxing, but with more money in your pocket.



Have a great weekend!

Friday Quotes

Whenever I get around to it I post here some of my favorite quotes, or a few particular lines or passages that I enjoyed in recent books that I've read (or from somewhere else in the book world).

Enjoy! And feel free to share some of your favorite quotes with me as well.

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The Book of Tomorrow by Cecilia Ahern

There are those whose minds are merely a bouquet of stalks that bud as they learn new information- a new bud for each fact- but yet they never open, never flourish. They are the people of capital letters and full stops but never of question marks and elipses.

A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine

"May I sample one? " I heard awe in my voice. He twittered. I took that as consent. If he'd snatched the packet away, I'd have taken that as consent as well and snatched it back.

Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick

• He let the sentence drift to the floor, stepped past it.

• Dig down and you find the broken fragments of history; look up and you see the growing glory of the future.

I really enjoyed Patrick Rothufuss's response to a question about his beard (which apparently he gets asked about a lot) in a recent interview with Adventures in SciFi Publishing

...Dude, It's just a beard. I get a beard from not shaving everyday. And I understand it's something that not a lot of people have, and yes it is fully majestic, and yes, it proclaims my masculinity and virility to the world but...its sort of like- what would happen if in every interview somebody asked Neil Gaiman about his hair? That would be ...mental.. that's what it would be. And so, similarly- it's a beard!

(And if you are a fan of Patrick Rothfuss I highly recommend that you listen to the rest of this very enjoyable interview with him.)

Friday Quotes

It's been months since I last did a Friday Quotes post. For a while I thought that I just wasn't coming across any good quotes in the books that I was reading but then I realized that I had actually just stopped looking. When I read a good book I usually lose myself in it completely and only pay attention to the wording if it bothers me enough to jar my concentration.

I hadn't realized that good quotes were something that I had to actually look out for, until I stopped doing it. So now I'm determined to start paying more attention and when I come across a quote or turn of phrase that I particularly like, I'll make an effort to write it down so that I can share it with you.

So I have for you this week just a few quotes that I enjoyed from some of the books that I recently read, or am currently reading:


Grimwood by Jon Courtenay

• There were old firemasters and bad firemasters; there were no old bad firemasters

The House on Darrow Street by Galen Beckett

• "You were not spoiled at all before it was too late, Mrs. Quent, and look what it has done to you. You are practical and somber. No, we must hurry and spoil Lily before its too late for her, and she becomes hopelessly serious."

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

• The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don't got nothing much to say.

• I think how hope may be the thing that pulls you forward, may be the thing that keeps you going, but that it's dangerous too, that it's painful and risky, that it's making a dare to the world and when has the world ever let us win a dare?

The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas

• Real life is physical. Give me books instead. Give me the invisibility of the contents of books, the thoughts, the ideas, the images. Let me become part of a book. . . . an intertextual being: a book cyborg, or, considering that books aren't cybernetic, perhaps a bibliorg.

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

• "I tell you to think black thoughts and you come up with that?!" the lieutenant had screamed. "Is a guinea pig bad? Do you consider a guinea pig the representation of all that is evil?"
  "Maybe... if it's an evil guinea pig."
  

Friday Quotes

I haven't done a Friday Quotes post in a while because I just haven't come across any quotes in my reading that I thought were particularly memorable. This week, ,though, I have some quotes to share with you that I really liked, from two of my recent reads:

The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois MacMaster Bujold

• If you're trying to take a roomful of people by surprise, it's a lot easier to hit your targets if you don't yell going through the door.

• The deadly weapon seemed unnaturally light and easy in his hand. Something that lethal should have more heft, like a broadsword. Wrong, for murder to be so potentially effortless--one ought to at least have to grunt for it.

• How can I give you up? You're the mountains and the lake, the memories--you have them all. When you're with me, I'm at home, wherever I am.

• Acting or reacting, we carry him in us. You can't walk away from him any more than I can. Whether you travel toward or away, he'll be the compass. He'll be the glass, full of subtle colors and astigmatisms, through which all new things will be viewed. I too have a father who haunts me, and I know.

• "Your forward momentum is going to lead all your followers over a cliff someday." He paused, beginning to grin. "On the way down, you'll convince 'em all they can fly." He stuck his fists in his armpits, and waggled his elbows. "Lead on, my lord. I'm flapping as hard as I can."

The Magicians and Mrs. Quent by Galen Beckett

• “Rafferdy excels at being bored,” Mr. Garritt said.

  
  “Oh, how delightful that must be!” Mr. Lockwell exclaimed “I say, I should be very glad to be bored of fine things. For it can only mean you have everything you could possibly wish for and that you never waste a moments thought fretting over some thing you must but cannot have. I say, you must be exceedingly content, Mr. Rafferdy!”

• “A word is all it takes to put a man in prison, or to seize his property, or to end his life. A saber might be stopped by a shield. A bullet might be dodged by a stroke of luck. But you can’t dodge a word. If one is flung at you it will hit its mark unerringly. No, Garritt, there’s nothing in the world more dangerous than talk.”

Friday Quotes: It's all DWJ this week

Since this week I had focused on reading books by Diana Wynne Jones I thought it would be appropriate to dedicate this week's page of quotes to her.

I really had so much fun immersing myself in Jones's world of the Chrestomanci and I even managed to fit in Howl's Moving Castle, which I loved and will review next week.
I still have many more of her books that I intend to read and I will be trying to fit them in between my other readings whenever I have the chance.

In the meantime I hope you enjoy these quotes as well as the reviews I have put up so far and that some of them may have inspired you to try her books, if you never had before.
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Diana Wynne Jones Quotes:

• Fantasy for me as a kid was real, and I had a fantasy about what life was, whether it was sort of wicked and dire, or wholly normal, or whatever. Anything really close to home is not, it seems to me, what a good book should be about.
  

• This does make me very very careful, particularly in the second draft, to get it right, because you do feel that somebody in the future who may be extremely important for everybody, is going to have me behind them, and this is a responsibility, a huge one.
  

• If you think you're a genius at something, what you achieve is very much according to your expectations; if you think you're no good, you're not going to get anywhere. If you think you're moderate, you're only going to get halfway to moderate, because you get half-way to where you're aiming every time, really.

• I was shaken completely to my socks about 5 years ago now; I went to a fantasy convention and I was suddenly accosted by this very interesting Canadian writer whose things I'd admired. His name's Charles de Lint, and he said he wanted to tell me that he wouldn't be writing now as he does had he not read my books when he was a teenager. He said they completely revolutionized his way of thinking. And indeed, I could see why I liked his things so much, because, probably, it was the sorts of things he'd got from me.

Quotes from Diana Wynne Jones Books

• "I am a believer in free will. If my dog chooses to hate the whole human race except myself, it must be free to do so." (Castle in the Air)

• "If I give you a hint and tell you it's a hint, it will be information." (Howl's Moving Castle)

• "I can't abide people who go soft over animals and then cheat every human they come across!" (Castle in the Air)
  

• She's not stupid, she just never lets her mind out. (House of Many Ways)
  

• He left the room like a very long procession of one person (regarding the Chrestomanci)
  

• It is quite a risk to spank a wizard for getting hysterical about his hair. (Howl's Moving Castle)
  

• Fellow Travellers: These are people who join the Tour for a short while and then leave or get killed. If they have names and characters, then you will be sorry to lose them. Otherwise, not. (The Tough Guide to Fantasy Land)
  

• Great numbers of Elves have become so wearied with the old golden ways that they have all departed, departed into the West. This is correct, provided that you take it with the understanding that Elves do not say anything quite straight. Many Elves have indeed gone west, to Minnesota and thence to California, and finally to Arizona, where they have great fun wearing punk clothes and riding motorbikes." (The Tough Guide to Fantasy Land)

• "Eternal Quest: see Quest, Eternal."
  "Quest, Eternal: see Eternal Quest."
  (The Tough Guide to Fantasyland)

Neil Gaiman's Ode to Diana Wynne Jones:

There's a kitten curled up in Kilkenny was given a perfect pot of cream,
And a princess asleep in a thornwrapped castle who's dreaming a perfect dream,
There's a dog in Alaska who danced with delight on a pile of mastodon bones,
But I got a copy of Hexwood (dedicated to me) by Diana Wynne Jones.

There's an actress who clutches her oscar (and sobs, with proper impromptu joy),
There's a machievellian villain who's hit on a wonderf'lly evil ploy,
There's wizards in crystal castles and kings on their golden thrones,
But I got a copy of Hexwood -- dedicated -- to me! -- by Diana Wynne Jones

There are fishermen out on the sea today who just caught the perfect fish,
There's a child in Luton who opened a genie-filled bottle, and got a wish,
There are people who live in glass houses have managed to outlaw stones --
But I've got a copy of Hexwood, dedicated to me by Diana Wynne Jones

Friday Quotes

This week's quotes are mostly from Graceling, which I had read last week and there is one from Charmed Life, the first in Diana Wynne's Jones Chrestomanci series, which I shall review next week. And last night instead of working on reviews or reading some of the many books I'm currently in the middle of, I ended up watching some old Gilmore Girls episodes, which I haven't done in years and is just like picking up a favorite book that you forgot how much you loved. So I have one quote from their as well because Lorelai is just so darn funny.

Enjoy the quotes and have a great weekend!

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Graceling, Kristin Cashore

• "I'm not going to wear a red dress,' she said.
  It would look stunning, My Lady,' she called.
  She spoke to the bubbles gathered on the surface of the water. "If there's anyone I wish to stun at dinner, I'll hit him in the face."
  

• "What are you grinning at?" Katsa demanded for the third or fourth time.
  "Is the ceiling about to cave in on my head or something? You look like we're both on the verge of an enormous joke."
  "Katsa, only you would consider the collapse of the ceiling a good joke."
  - Po and Katsa
  

• Something caught in her throat at this second thanks, when she'd threatened him so brutally. When you're a monster, she thought, you are thanked and praised for not behaving like a monster. She would like to restrain from cruelty and receive no admiration for it.

Charmed Life, Diana Wynne Jones

It’s a pity…that I’ve no right to open your letters. I hope you don’t get many, or my conscience will give me no peace.
(Chrestomanci to Gwendolen)

Gilmore Girls (season 1, episode 3)

Babette: Is there a problem?
Lorelai: Oh nothing Shakespeare couldn’t have turned into a really great play

Friday Quotes

This week I actually manged to read two books, Shades of Grey and Magic Bleeds, and to start on another book, The City & the City by China Mieville, which makes for a very successful reading week. Though I'm wondering if anyone else who has read City & the City was bothered by the overly complex sentences that Mieville seems fond of and which often require me to reread the same sentence several times. I've never seen this mentioned in any of the reviews of the book.

I also started listening to the second Dresden File book by Jim Butcher, Fool Moon, and I'm a half way through The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty, my only non-genre book at the moment.

So here are this week's quotes...

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

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Shades of Grey (Jasper Fforde)

• “I don’t need you to agree with me,” she said quietly. “I’ll go away happy with a little bit of doubt. Doubt is good. It’s an emotion we can build on. Perhaps if we feed it with curiosity it will blossom into something useful, like suspicion – and action."
  

• The cucumber and the tomato are both fruit; the avocado is a nut. To assist with the dietary requirements of vegetarians, on the first Tuesday of the month a chicken is officially a vegetable."
  

• The safest course was actually the simplest-do nothing at all and hope everything turned out for the best. It wasn't a great plan, but it had the benefits of simplicity and a long tradition

Magic Bleeds (Ilona Andrews)

The surest way to disarm a Jewish magician was to take his pen away from him.

The Memory of Running (Ron McLarty)

I always sound sort of anxious on the telephone, or sort of like I'm out to please everyone. It's one of those subservient hellos that really say "I'll do anything for you," but of course I don't really feel that way and I won't do anything for you.

Gail Carriger (Interview with Tor)

I always try to have strong opinions on frivolous subjects and weak opinions on serious matters. Keeps me young and irreverent.

Friday Quotes

I listened to the audio of The Thirteenth Tale this week and the prose was so wonderful that it was hard for me to limit myself to just these few quotes. The narration was also really fantastic, and I highly recommend this audio book, though I'm sure it's just as good in book format.
I actually did quite a bit of non-genre reading this week, which included Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley and The Year of Pleasure by Elizabeth Berg, though I haven't decided yet if I'll be reviewing them here.

So here are this week's quotes.

Enjoy!
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The Thirteenth Tale (Diane Setterfield)

• There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner. Wind themselves around your limbs like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce your skin, enter your blood, numb your thoughts. Inside you they work their magic.



• Do you know the feeling when you start reading a new book before the membrane of the last one has had time to close behind you? You leave the previous book with ideas and themes -- characters even -- caught in the fibers of your clothes, and when you open the new book, they are still with you.



• I know there are people who don't read fiction at all, and I find it hard to understand how they can bear to be inside the same head all the time.



• A birth is not really a beginning. Our lives at the start are not really our own but only the continuation of someone else's story.



• Politeness. Now there's a poor man's virtue if ever there was one. What's so admirable about inoffensiveness, I should like to know. After all, it's easily achieved. One needs no particular talent to be polite. On the contrary, being nice is what's left when you've failed at everything else. People with ambition don't give a damn what other people think about them.



• But silence is not a natural environment for stories. They need words. Without them they grown pale, sicken and die. And then they haunt you.



• She was a do-gooder, which means that all the ill she did, she did without realizing it.



• Everybody has a story. It's like families. You might not know who they are, might have lost them, but they exist all the same. You might drift apart or you might turn your back on them, but you can't say you haven't got them. Same goes for stories



• I've nothing against people who love truth. Apart from the fact that they make dull companions.

Dead in the Family (Charlaine Harris)

Being alone is a lot more fun if it's optional

Where the Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak)

The wild things cried "Oh please don't go- we'll eat you up -we love you so!"
And Max said, "No,"

(There is just something about this line I really like)


Peter Brett (Just a random comment from his blog that I liked)

Have you ever desired something without even knowing it existed, and then suddenly had it appear atop your mailbox? It’s a weird feeling.

(this has never happened to me but I really wish it would)

Friday Quotes

The Girl with the Glass Feet (Ali Shaw)

You didn't have to have years under your belt; you had to have unlived ones, yet to be stored.

When You Reach Me (Rebecca Stead)

• "You're lucky," he tells me. "Keys are power. Some of us have to come knocking."

• If I'm afraid of someone on the street, I'll turn to him (it's always a boy) and say, "Excuse me, do you happen to know what time is is?" This is my way of saying to the person "I see you as a friend, and there is no need to hurt me or take my stuff. Also, I don't even have a watch and I'm probably not worth mugging."

Blake Charlton (interview at Fantasy Literature)

The beginning of a second book is a difficult point for a new novelist. You have your whole life to write your first novel; for your second, you have a year.

Friday Quotes

This week I finally received my copy of Gail Carriger's Changless, which I finished up in just two sittings, and enjoyed the whole way through. You'll have to wait until next week for the review, but I included here are couple of great quotes from the book.


I also finished Jasper Fforde's First Among Sequels, which I reviewed this past week and I'm making some real headway with Gardens of the Moon, which I may actually finish soon. I have also started on The Wizard of Earthsea, a classic fantasy by Ursula Le Guine, which I have somehow managed to overlook in all my years of fantasy reading, though I'm eager now to correct that.


So here are a few of my favorite quotes from this week's reads, and if you have any of your own, I'd love to hear them.

Enjoy!

- By the way, in case you are wondering why every paragraph is in a different font and color, it's
Blogger's fault. It keeps changing my settings every time I look the other way. I concede defeat.

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Changeless (Gail Carriger)

• She moved with such purpose it was as though she walked with exclamation marks

• This was the kind of woman who took her tea black, smoked cigars after midnight, played a mean game of cribbage, and kept a bevy of repulsive dogs.
  
  Alexia liked her immediately

Wizard of Earthsea (Ursula Le Guin)

• There was a silence, as if Ged was keeping back something he had to say. Then he said it:"But I haven't learned anything yet!"
  "Because you haven't found out what I am teaching," replied the mage.
  




• In that moment Ged understood the singing of the bird, and the language of the water falling in the basin if the fountain, and the shape of the clouds, and the beginning and end of the wind that stirred the leaves: it seemed to him that he himself was a word spoken by the sunlight.


• To light a candle is to cast a shadow

First Among Sequels (Jasper Fforde)

'Mr Next-Friday-how do you do? I've wanted to meet you again for the first time. May I shake you by the hand and congratulate you on-' She stopped, realized she was being a bit previous and making a fool of herself.

Gardens of the Moon (Steven Erikson)

Such tears had been shed before, and would be again - by others like her and yet unlike her. And the winds would dry them all.

And more from Calvin and Hobbes, who so perfectly expresses my own current frustration at waiting for a package of books that seems like it will never arrive (it's been two weeks already, where is it!!)

I know Calvin, I know...

Friday Quotes

I discovered my love for quotes during tenth grade geometry, when I found a book of quotes on the bookshelf that was right by my seat. I started reading this book every day during class and was soon hooked on to quotes (though I fell behind in geometry). I do still enjoy collecting quotes, and so this week I thought I would share some of my favorite non-literary ones with you.

Enjoy!




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Don't be so humble... you're not that great
~ Golda Meir

Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional
~ Chili Davis

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
~ Mark Twain

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
~ Mark Twain

Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you do criticize him, you'll be a mile away and have his shoes.
~ Jack Handy

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
~ Douglas Adams

When I was a kid my parents moved a lot, but I always found them
~ Rodney Dangerfield

Don't take life too seriously; you'll never get out of it alive
~ Elbert Hubbard

I don't want to achieve immortality through my work... I want to achieve it through not dying.
~ Woody Allen

It's not that I'm afraid to die, I just don't want to be there when it happens.
~ Woody Allen

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.
~Arthur McAuliff

Friday Quotes

I'm pleased to be able to report that this week I finally completed two of the books among the many that I am currently reading and I seem to be making some progress with the others as well. I finished First Among Sequels, which I will review next week, and Spellwright which I reviewed below.
And so here are some of the more memorable quotes that I came across in my reading this past week, including some from one of my favorite comics, Calvin and Hobbes (no day would be complete without a little Calvin)

Enjoy!

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Gardens of the Moon (Steven Erikson)

Every god falls to a mortal's hand, such is the end of immortality

The Witches of Eileanan (Kate Forsyth)

All dreams are visions of what may be. We ourselves choose whether or not to make dreams reality

First Among Sequels (Jasper Fforde)

Whereas story is processed in the mind in a straightforward manner, poetry bypasses rational thought and goes straight to the limbic system and lights it up like a brushfire. It's the crack cocaine of the literary world."

The Left Hand of Darkness (Ursula K. Le Guin)

• The unknown, the unforetold, the unproven, that is what life is based on. Ignorance is the ground of thought. Unproof is the ground of action. If it were proven that there is no God there would be no religion... But if it were proven that there is a God, there would be no religion.



• Light is the left hand of darkness
  and darkness the right hand of light.
  Two are one, life and death, lying
  together like lovers in kemmer,
  like hands joined together,
  like the end and the way.

Spellwright (Blake Charlton)

• There is more possible with language than can be imagined within your rules of spelling



• Half the world will tell you that you're worthless and stupid; the other half will tell you that there's nothing wrong with you at all. A few might even say your disability is a gift...The truth is that you are neither broken nor gifted; you are only what you make yourself into

Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)

• That’s the difference between me and the rest of the world! Happiness isn’t good enough for me! I demand euphoria!



• "Well, remember what you said, because in a day or two, I'll have a witty and blistering retort! You'll be devastated THEN!”



• Life is full of surprises, but never when you need one.



• Calvin: I'm a genius, but I'm a misunderstood genius.
  Hobbes: What's misunderstood about you?
  Calvin: Nobody thinks I'm a genius.

Friday Quotes

This week I finished The Bookman and started on The Graveyard Book and I'm still in the middle of listening to Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld. Here are a few of the memorable quotes that I came across, in this week's reads:

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The Bookman (Lavie Tidhar)

• This is the time of myths. They are woven into the present like silk strands from the past, like a mesh wire from the future, creating an interlacing pattern, a grand design, a repeating motif. Don't dismiss myth, boy.



• "In the real world heroes don't always live to the end. And sometimes, Orphan, no one gets the girl."

The Graveyard Book (Neil Gaimen)

• “You’re alive, Bod. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you change the world, the world will change. Potential. Once you’re dead, it’s gone. Over. You’ve made what you’ve made, dreamed your dream, written your name. You may be buried here, you may even walk. But that potential is finished.”



• Face your life
  Its pain, its pleasure,
  Leave no path untaken



• "If you dare nothing, then when the day is over, nothing is all you will have gained."

Friday Quotes

I didn't come across too many memorable quotes this week, so I'm going to share a few older favorites of mine, along with one from one of my favorite TV shows, Psych.

Enjoy! And if you have any good quotes of your own, I'd love to hear them.

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Something Rotten (Jasper Fforde)

"If the real world were a book, it would never find a publisher. Overlong, detailed to the point of distraction-and ultimately, without a major resolution."


Lost in a Good Book (Jasper Fforde)

"I would so hate to be a first-person character! Always on your guard, always having people reading your thoughts! Here we do what we are told but think what we wish. It is a much happier circumstance, believe me!"
(Marianne, from Sense and Sensibilities, expressing sympathy for Jane Eyre)

Red Seas Under Red Skies (Scott Lynch)

• "You're ten pints of crazy in a one-pint glass"
  




• 'This is where you and I are headed.... Look for us in history books and you'll find us in the margins. Look for us in legends and you might just find us celebrated.' (Jean to Locke)
  

Jingo (Terry Pratchett)

Give a man a fire and he's warm for the day. But set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)

"You know," said Arthur, "it's at times like this, when I'm trapped in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, and about to die of asphyxiation in deep space that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me when I was young."

Ford Prefect: "Why, what did she tell you?"

Arthur: "I don't know, I didn't listen."

Psych. (Conversation between Shawn and the guy who misplaced a vial containing a deadly virus)

Guy: I really, really messed up
Shawn: It’s not your fault
Guy: Oh good....How do you know that?
Shawn: I don’t. But when people say that in movies, things seemed to get fixed, almost magically

Friday Quotes

I read some great books this week, including Peter Brett's The Desert Spear (which I'll talk about a bit next week) and my old favorite, Villains by Necessity and I'm currently in the middle of listening to Red Seas Under Red Skies on audio, which I'm really enjoying. And so here are a few of my favorite quotes from this week's reads:
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Red Seas Under Red Skies (Scott Lynch)

• "I'd lay even odds that between the people following us and the people hunting us, we've become this city's principle means of employment."
  Jean Tanne to Locke after another assassination attack


• "Has anyone ever tried to cut out that disgustingly silver tongue of yours, Master Kosta?'"
  "It's become a traditional pastime in several cities I could mention."
  Madam Durenna to Lock Lamora (posing as Master Kosta)

The Desert Spear (Peter Brett)

• "They do you a great honor. In Krasia, if no one is trying to kill you, it is because you're not worth killing." - Abban
  
  

Villains by Necessity (Eve Forward)

• "If you hear me screaming, run away."
  "You never scream, Sam," corrected the Barigan...Sam smiled
  "That's why you'd run away."



• If Sam were a hero, tracking down a villain, he would, at this point, have said a few choice dramatic words along the lines of Mizzamir being his now, or perhaps a suggestion for the mage to make preparation to meet whatever deities he favored. But as it was, Sam was a villain and didn't mess about with such things.



• "It would be nice just to slip in there and set a few things ablaze," said Valerie wistfully. " I bet all that dry wood would go up like a--"
  "Save the world first, my fellows, and you can come back to enjoy it later," interrupted Kaylana.

Friday Quotes

Harry Dresden, Storm Front (Jim Butcher)

I'd made the vampire cry. Great. I felt like a real superhero. Harry Dresden, breaker of monsters' hearts.

Two wizards at the University, Equal Rites (Terry Pratchett)

- "While I'm still confused and uncertain, it's on a much higher plane, d'you see, and at least I know I'm bewildered about the really fundamental and important facts of the universe." Treatle nodded. "I hadn't looked at it like that," he said, "But you're absolutely right. He's really pushed back the boundaries of ignorance."


- They both savored the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things.

Kelsier, Mistborn (Brandon Sanderson)

- My behavior is nonetheless, deplorable. Unfortunately, I'm quite prone to such bouts of deplorability--take for instance, my fondness for reading books at the dinner table.

- If you're always on time, it implies that you never have anything better you should be doing

Dani Zweig

Would someone please explain to me why the triumph of Evil is always accompanied by ugly, skimpy and non-functional clothing, an exponential increase in power, and a total failure of intellect?

Friday Quotes

I love a good quote, though when I come across one I usually forget to write it down and then I can never find it again. So I've decided to make an effort to write down some of my favorite quotes that I come across during the week and to share them with you here.

Here are some of this weeks great finds:

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The Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss):

- It's like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always . All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.

- To deem us simply enemies is to lose the true flavor of our relationship. It was more like the two of us entered into a business partnership in order to more efficiently pursue our mutual interest of hating each other.

- Call a jack a jack, call a spade a spade, but always call a whore a lady

- The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind

Dune (Frank Herbert)

- Parting with friends is a sadness. A place is only a place.

- Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.

Hogfather (Terry Pratchett):

She'd become a governess. It was one of the few jobs a known lady could do. And she'd taken to it well. She'd sworn that if she did indeed ever find herself dancing on rooftops with chimney sweeps she'd beat herself to death with her own umbrella

Mort (Terry Pratchett):

"You're dead," he said. Keli waited. She couldn't think of any suitable reply. "I'm not" lacked a certain style, while "Is it serious?" seemed somehow too frivolous.
-- Mort to Princess Keli, after her death