A Piece of My Mind: Gabaldon

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Thursday Thirteen - 156 - 13 Sentence Spotlights Taken From Random Page 99's

I was inspired to go to page 99 for my random sentence spotlight, because I've run into bloggers mentioning page 99 as a place to check out what's happening in their manuscripts.

So here are the first lines encountered on page 99 of thirteen books I've read, or which form my TBR mountain.

If it's a very short sentence, I'm including the one that follows. If it's a sentence carried over from page 98, I'm using either that one or the one immediately following.

1 - He thought of the breakfast he'd eaten - the same breakfast he ate every day of his life: bland porridge in a chipped bowl.

- Julianne MacLean, Portrait of a Lover

2 - Instruct him how to be tactful and charming? As he prepared for the levee, Sir Robert grimaced at himself in the looking glass.

- Deborah Hale, The Bride Ship

3 - The glittering expanse of the ocean rose into stately swells that had taken half the globe to build their bulk.

- Kate Grenville, The Secret River - TBR

4 - Jack looked up, thought. Because of his capture by the Abenaki on the Plains of Abraham in the autumn of 1759, report had been returned that he was probably dead.

- C. C. Humphreys, Absolute Honor - TBR

5 - He stuck his injured finger in the glass of porter and frowned at the cat, now wallowing on its back among the thumbscrews, inviting the unwary to rub its furry belly.

- Diana Gabaldon, Lord John and the Private Matter - TBR

6 - "It's like Ben gave voice to something that's always been there. I mean Mom isn't exactly nice to you."

"Or you."

- Claudia Hall Christian, The Fey - TBR

7 - She struggled to keep her smile bright, then gave it up and drank half the champagne in her flute.

- Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Midnight Harvest - TBR

8 - In the past music had never been much of a solace and had always been tinged with obligation, the repertoire largely from concerts like this she had had to attend.

- Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader - TBR

9 - To Imogen's disgust, her short foray into the hall had brought up some of the blisters on the soft soles of her feet.

- Jo Beverley, Dark Champion

10 - "It's a kind of trench, or it might be a kind of sunken lane or something," said Jill. "It runs quite straight."

- C. S. Lewis, The Silver Chair

11 - "For Cecilie, of course." He gave me his broad grin, always unexpected and thrilling.

- Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Dart - TBR

12 - She bore the stamp of his possession there in her face and wet on her swollen lips, not to mention in the faded ribbon around her wrist.

- Colleen Gleason, The Rest Falls Away - TBR

13 - "Academic," he replied. "You can't take me before that door falls, and then it will be all over for you."

- Roger Zelazny, Nine Princes in Amber

Harriet says Wonderful quotes!

Susan Helene Gottfried says Heh. You're the third Thirteener I've seen today with books on the brain - I've got 'em there, too!

Apprentice Writer says Oatmeal, thumbscrews, and the plains of Abraham: intersting combo!