Pym-isms

I love Barbara Pym's novels. She writes about ordinary people living ordinary lives in a way that makes you smile, laugh, and sometimes even cry. She had a real gift for creating memorable characters and also for writing witty observations about life. I recently finished reading No Fond Return of Love, a novel about a thirtyish single woman named Dulcie Manwaring and her tangle of relationships, which I quite enjoyed. Here are a few of my favorite Pym-isms from it:

"There are various ways of mending a broken heart, but perhaps going to a Learned conference is one of the more unusual."

"It was sad, she thought, how women longed to be needed and useful and how seldom most of them really were."

"Viola had turned out to be a disappointment. In a sense, Dulcie felt as if she had created her and that she had not come up to expectations, like a character in a book who had failed to come alive, and how many people in life, if one transferred them to fiction just as they were, would fail to do that!"

"Life's problems are often eased by hot milky drinks."  

Barbara Pym
(1913-1980)

"One never met anybody interesting travelling second class."

"Some men seem to make a habit of choosing the wrong women," said Dulcie thoughtfully.

"Perhaps love for somebody totally unsuitable dies more completely, when it does dies, than any other kind of love."

Happy Reading!

Other Pym novels I've read and enjoyed:
Quartet in Autumn
Less Than Angels
Jane and Prudence
A Few Green Leaves
Some Tame Gazelle
Excellent Women (which oddly enough I never reviewed, even though it's my favorite.)

Giving Thanks...

I can no other answer make, but, thanks, and thanks.

--William Shakespeare

"Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgiving, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings."

--William Arthur Ward  

"O give thanks unto the Lord;for he is good: 

for his mercy endureth forever."

Psalms 136:1

"At the age of 18, I made up my mind to never have another bad day in my life. I dove into an endless sea of gratitude from which I've never emerged."

--Patch Adams     

Cultivate an attitude of gratitude.

--Thomas S. Monson

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Some people grumble that roses have thorns;

   I am grateful that thorns have roses."

                                               --Alphonse Karr

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today.

Have you used one to say "Thank You?"

--William A. Ward

Orwell, or Wells?

George Orwell and H. G. Wells.  Two influential English novelists.  If I had to choose between them, I'd probably pick Wells. But they both had important things to say.  Here are ten quotes from these amazing writers. Can you tell who wrote which quote?

1. "Big Brother is watching."
2. "We all have our time machines, don't we. Those that take us back are memories...And those that carry us forward, are dreams.
3. "There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad."
4. "Orthodoxy means not thinking ... Orthodoxy is unconsciousness."
5. "Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe."
6. "Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past."
7. "The past is but the beginning of a beginning, and all that is or has been is but the twilight of the dawn."
8. "The masses never revolt of their own accord, and they never revolt merely because they are oppressed.  Indeed, so long as they are not permitted to have standards of comparison, they never even become aware that they are oppressed."
9. "Always yell with the crowd, that's what I say. It's the only way to be safe." 
10. "An invisible man is a man of power."

Happy Reading Orwell, or Wells!

Answer key:

George Orwell wrote #1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9 and H. G. Wells wrote #2, 5, 7, 10.

A little bookish wisdom...

Here are a few memorable lines from some recent reads that are not only well-written, but wise.

"Mediocrity always lives in fear of excellence."

--Nancy Richer, The Imposter Bride

"It's just as exciting to buy a new experience as it is to buy a new dress--more so, in fact."

Agatha Christie, The Secret of Chimneys

"The chess piece cannot play for both black and white."

Elizabeth Ross, Belle Epoque

"I'm never going to be too old for it," said Garnet. "All my life

whenever I see a merry-go-round I'm going to ride on it..."

Elizabeth Enright, Thimble Summer

Happy Reading!

I did it!

Democracy in America:  703 pages read; 0 pages to go.

I set a goal last February to read de Tocqueville's massive tome this year--two pages a day--and yesterday I finally finished it! As you can probably tell, I'm glad to be done. I did learn a lot--especially from the first half of the book, but I have to admit, I found Volume II (basically the entire last half of the book) a bit of a slog. De Tocqueville spends 334 pages examining the affect of democracy and its "principles of equality" on various aspects of society, for both good and bad. Every little aspect of society!  I did not find it nearly as interesting or as insightful as Volume I (in which he delineates the beginnings of democracy here in America). My recommendation? Definitely read Volume I of Democracy in America, because it's important and worth your time, but don't bother with Volume II.

If you just want a taste of de Tocqueville's thoughts and observations, here are a few of my favorite quotes from Volume II:

"Society is endangered, not by the great profligacy of a few, but by laxity of morals amongst all."

"The authority of government has not only spread, as we have just seen, throughout the sphere of all existing powers, till that sphere can no longer contain it, but it goes further, and invades the domain heretofore reserved to private independence...it everywhere interferes in private concerns more than it did; it regulates more undertakings...and it gains a firmer footing everyday about, above, and around all private persons, to assist, to advise, and to coerce them."

"...life is passed in the midst of noise and excitement, and men are so engaged in acting that little time remains to them for thinking."

For more of de Tocqueville's quotes, check out my Halfway There  post.

 

Unforgettable Firsts...

Before I buy a book, or even check one out of the library, I always flip it open first and read the opening sentence. I have to see if the author's words grab me and make me want to read more, or if, like a bad pick-up line, I am left less than impressed. So much hangs on the first line of a book, don't you think? the best ones hook you with the first word and quickly reel you into the story. The best of the best are unforgettable. Here are 10 memorable first lines. Some are obvious, some a little more obscure; can you guess which book they're from? (Answers are below.)

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

2. I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first time.

3. The Ghost in the Paris opera existed.

4. To kill a man, my dear, is not always to make an end of him.

5. Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board.

6. Who is John Galt?

7. No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be a heroine.

8. It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

9. I am dead, but it's not so bad.

10. This is the story of what a Woman's patience can endure, and what a Man's resolution can achieve.

Have you read an unforgettable first line lately?

Answers: 1-Pride and Prejudice; 2- The Shadow of the Wind; 3- The Phantom of the Opera; 4- Treasure Mountain; 5- Their Eyes Were Watching God; 6- Atlas Shrugged; 7- Northanger Abbey; 8- 1984; 9- Warm Bodies; 10- The Woman in White.

Halfway there...

In January, I started reading Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville.  I figured if I read just two pages a day I'd be able to finish the book by the end of the year.  This week I reached the halfway point!  I've been amazed by de Tocqueville's articulateness and intelligence, and also by how relevant this book still remains today.  Here are two of my favorite quotes:

"...the democratic government of the Americans is not a cheap government .. they must often spend the money of the people to no purpose, or consume more of it than is really necessary for their enterprises." (p.184)

"Unlimited power is in itself a bad and dangerous thing.  Human beings are not competent to exercise it with discretion.  God alone can be omnipotent, because his wisdom and his justice are always equal to his power." (p.216) 

Democracy in America:  352 pages down; 352 pages to go.