"You can't deny laughter; when it comes, it plops down in your favorite chair and stays as long as it wants."

Stephen King, I think it is from Bag of Bones. I can't be sure - and I can't find my copy to make sure, but that quote always sticks with me.

By the way, Stephen King fed me dinner tonight! Pix Here

Wow, Lanna Lee. There he is, long upper lip (or is it a short nose?) and spaghetti, too.

and that is a very strong image you've quoted.

I find Elizabeth Berg's books are frequently full of lines that punch me in the gut with their rightness -- in a chick-lit kind of way. I can get really maudlin, reading Elizabeth Berg late at night. Cynthia Voigt and (I've lately discovered) E.L. Konigsburg can do the same. Yes, kidlit is a guilty pleasure of mine. :) However, I generally don't find myself remembering actual lines from books nearly as often as I sometimes think I should. There are a couple.

One is from L.M. Montgomery's Anne's House of Dreams, a line I remember reading when I was a newlywed, and as such it stuck with me. "It was the first time he had said 'my wife' to anyone but Anne, and he narrowly escaped bursting with the pride of it."

And then there's one of yours, and no, I'm not picking this one to flatter you. It's from Into the Wilderness, when Elizabeth has just dispatched Jack Lingo -- the line that goes (I just had to go grab my copy to be sure I got it entirely right): "A woman who had always taken pleasure in a job well done, Elizabeth turned her face upward and sent a howl of satisfaction spiraling into the sky." That's a sentence that speaks volumes about so many things.

One if my favorite authors is Dorothy Dunnett and I have to admit that I have a bit of a crush on Francis Crawford. He can be so cutting and cruel but once in a while we see a very sensitive side. In Queen's Play he is in the midst of seducing Oonagh O'Dwyer who's heart has been turned to stone for various reasons. She begin's weeping at one point and FC says "welcome with.....welcome noble lady to the ranks of those who can be hurt". This is rather unexpected from FC and just about made me cry when I first read it. It reveals,I think, alot about his true character which we dont get to see very often.

Rachel -- thank you kindly for the quotes. I love Anne, too, and all the books.

Carolyn -- I was just thinking this morning about Dunnett and quotes. I agree completely that her novels are full of very striking, memorable bits. However, my crush is on Niccolo. I never could get close to Lymond, but I've read all the Niccolos at least ten times (and I am not exaggerating). Someday I'd love to put together a wikipedia about the Niccolo books, with tons of notes and maps and references. Maybe when I hit the lottery. Of course I'd have to start buying tickets.

Just thought of my very favorite literary put-down, from our beloved Jane Austen. It's in S&S;, when Elinor is talking with Robert Ferrars, and he says something that is typically (for him) inane, I believe about a cottage in this instance. And she does not choose to give him "the compliment of rational opposition". Bliss. I never say that to anyone, but I certainly do find myself thinking it at times.

One that sticks out for me - John Marsden, from the "Tomorrow" series, when Ellie comments that Fi is holding her hand 'so tightly it was worse than carrying a shopping bag loaded with dog food' (not the exact quote, but certainly the gist). It's such a simple image, but it works so well because of it.

Now this too is from memory...from Neil Gaiman's Good Omens - an unorthodox chase scene: The devil Hastur chases Crowley (bit of a renegade devil) through telephone lines. Anti-hero Crowley escapes through an answering machine, immediately turning it on, thereby trapping Hastur (he's not that familiar with earthen-ware, let's say) in the answering machine.
Hastur remains in the answering machine (I pictured him pacing the small space) until a telemarketer calls. And Hastur escapes through that opened phone line, dashing from one line to another in the small, cramped "boiler room" operation, devouring each of the telemarketers in rapid succession. When he's done he says something like "Ahhh, I needed that." And the next scene - I just recalled - has people all over Britain puzzled by a dinner hour void of unwelcome phone calls.

It's hilarious, it's vindictive, but it's goood.

Pam -- I've read American Gods, and now I'll have to read this one. What an inspired scene.

I've always liked this one from Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers:

"It was said that if Miss Amelia so much as stumbled over a rock in the road she would glance around instinctively as though looking for somebody to sue about it."

A few that permanently changed my perceptions...

An aside by Ursula LeGuin, in "The Lathe of Heaven," on a couple about to "make love":
"Love doesn't just sit there like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new."

Lupe Velez, on second marriages:
"First time you buy a house, you see how pretty the paint is and buy it. The second time you look to see if the basement has termites. It's the same with men."

Molly Ivins on how to help yourself: "The first rule of holes: When you're in one, stop digging."

The wonderful explanation by Doctorow: "Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way."