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Old 12-04-2011, 07:40 AM
 
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I can barely remember the title/author of books I read a week ago, so I am amazed that I can remember some lines from books I read years ago. Strange how the brain works....

I can't even remember what (fiction) book this is from, but it was about a middle-aged couple who weren't doing so well together after years of marriage. It was told from the wife's point of view. It would drive her crazy when her husband would say, "Very well, then" as if he was an English lord of the manor! It resonates with me because my husband has the habit of saying "Very good" to end almost every phone call.

The other one is from "Them" by Nathan McCall. I loved this (fiction) book and not just because it took place locally (Atlanta). It was told from the view of several characters, both black and white in a neighborhood undergoing gentrification. One of the African-American characters would marvel at the stuff the younger, more affluent whites would do and buy. It had never even occurred to him that he should strive for or ever obtain/do these things. He would wonder "How do people know how to live?" This resonates with me because I have been a bit clueless myself in terms of wanting/striving for/obtaining things that most Americans want and have (such as a large house). I too wonder how people know how to live, especially when it's in ways that are so foreign to me. It's like I missed the memo when growing up that a fulfilling life would be obtained through a job in which I made lots of money, had a big house, a family, lots of possessions, etc.

What lines do you remember?
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Old 12-04-2011, 08:05 AM
 
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My favorite at the moment: "Don't say 'What?' darling. Say 'pardon'." from Bridget Jones's Diary.
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Old 12-04-2011, 08:14 AM
 
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From Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata, when the major female character describes her goal in life as "to go pleasantly to seed." And when a man she has been having an affair with, after affectionately referring to her as "girl," suddenly characterizes her as "you're a good woman," when he is about to disappear from her life.
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Old 12-04-2011, 10:42 AM
 
Location: Old Mother Idaho
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Portis' book True Grit is full of lines I remember.
Both movie versions lifted most of their dialog verbatim from the book, but the book was better than either movie.

One of my faves: "They'll never catch Little Blackie! Their horses are loaded down with fat men and iron!"

As an aging former cowboy, I can relate....
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Old 12-04-2011, 11:58 AM
 
Location: New Jersey
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I can barely remember lines from books, b/c I read so many but the last book I read was "Running with Scissors" so here's one I liked from that:

"I will please shut the hell up the day you please drop the hell dead"


This is easy enough to remember from the "The Bell Jar"

"I am. I am. I am."
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Old 12-04-2011, 12:16 PM
 
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Top line, which I'll always remember because my mother said it to my father when she told him she'd filed for divorce.

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn"

(Rhett Butler to Scarlett at the end of Gone with the Wind)
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Old 12-04-2011, 09:02 PM
 
Location: Victoria TX
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"Hey, Boo!"

I'm very poor at memorizing anything much longer than that. I have to hum the last lines of "Happy Birthday". My mnemonic patterns are wired differently.
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Old 12-05-2011, 01:25 PM
 
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Ellsworth Toohey:

"Mr. Roark, we’re alone here. Why don’t you tell me what you think of me? In any words you wish. No one will hear us."

Howard Roark:

"But I don’t think of you."

Ayn Rand - The Fountainhead
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Old 12-06-2011, 09:23 PM
 
Location: Bellingham, WA
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From The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde:

“The world is changed because you are made of ivory and gold. The curves of your lips rewrite history.”

No idea why I remember that, but I do.
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Old 12-08-2011, 10:29 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AnneWest View Post
Top line, which I'll always remember because my mother said it to my father when she told him she'd filed for divorce.

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn"

(Rhett Butler to Scarlett at the end of Gone with the Wind)
That's the one that first came to mind.

My favorite - I can't remember which writer or which book - was actually a typo that got through all the proofreadings. I didn't even read the book, just a sample that was quoted and whined about and discussed on facebook.

Visualize a romantic picnic about to take place, and the Hero has just sat on the ground under a tree. What was published was "...while <Hero> s-h-i-t on the ground..."

Doubt if I'll ever think of picnics quite the same way ever again.
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