Thursday Thirteen 409: Quotes

Here are some of the most recent quotes I have Favorited at Goodreads:



01. “It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime...”
― Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner


02. “Cakes are healthy too, you just eat a small slice”
― Mary Berry


03. “Now Autumn's fire burns slowly along the woods and day by day the dead leaves fall and melt.”
― William Allingham, Day and night songs


04. “Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren't go a-hunting
For fear of little men.”
― William Allingham, The Fairies: A Poem


05. “By the craggy hill-side,
Through the mosses bare,
They have planted thorn-trees
For pleasure here and there.
If any man so daring
As dig them up in spite,
He shall find their sharpest thorns
In his bed at night.”
― William Allingham, The Fairies: A Poem


06. “Not like Homer would I write,
Not like Dante if I might,
Not like Shakespeare at his best,
Not like Goethe or the rest,
Like myself, however small,
Like myself, or not at all.”
― William Allingham, Blackberries


07. “Take pride in your pain; you are stronger than those who have none”
― Lois Lowry, Gathering Blue


08. “To read a poem in January is as lovely as to go for a walk in June.”
― Jean Paul Friedrich Richter


09. “How alone everyone is in the vast tomb of the universe!”
― Jean Paul Friedrich Richter


10. “Music is moonlight in the gloomy night of life.”
― Jean Paul Friedrich Richter


11. “The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.”
― Ben Okri


12. “Sometimes the right thing feels all wrong until it is over and done with.”
― Alice Hoffman, Practical Magic


13. “It is the very mark of the spirit of rebellion to crave for happiness in this life”
― Henrik Ibsen, Ghosts




LINKING TO: Thursday Thirteen

National Readathon Day

From Goodreads:

Grab your latest book and charge your ereaders, bibliophiles. It's time for the first-ever National Readathon Day. On Saturday, January 24, join readers across America to make #timetoread for four hours in solidarity for literacy. (Of course, if you live outside the U.S. and want to make #timetoread, too, please join in!)

National Readathon Day, sponsored by Goodreads, the National Book Foundation, Penguin Random House, and Mashable, is a nationwide marathon reading session on Saturday, January 24th from noon-4 p.m. (in respective time zones) and a fundraiser for The National Book Foundation’s literacy programs.

Whether you have a book you're trying to finish, or one you're dying to start, make time to read for four hours this Saturday! I will be continuing a book started Friday, Poisoned Prose by Ellery Adams.

Teaser Tuesday 214: The Widow's Walk

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current book or recent read.
* Share a few "teaser" sentences from somewhere in the book.
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away. You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!


This week I am teasing from a book due out the end of this month, a copy of which I received through Goodread's "first reads" program, and the first one I have won from them in three years. This is from the opening of The Widow's Walk by Robert Barclay.

Her name was Constance Elizabeth Canfield, and for as long as she could remember, she loved gazing at the ocean.

No matter the weather, Constance found the froth-topped waves reassuring and filled with promise. In her world she could rely upon few things, but the waves were always there. She loved their consistency of purpose, and their constant determination to assault the rocky shoreline that lay so near her house. She also found them exciting, because they would one day bring her husband back to her. So she patiently watched and waited as they worked their welcome magic on her lonely soul.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

In the spirit of The Notebook and The Time Traveller's Wife comes Robert Barclay's haunting and romantic novel of passion, destiny, loss and an eternal love that will bring two people together across time . . .


His name was Garrett Richmond and he had always wanted to live by the ocean. So when the opportunity to buy-and renovate-the old home known as Seaside arrived, he leapt at the chance. Never mind that his friends and family thought he was crazy, he knew he could return this lonely mansion, worn by time, wind, and neglect, to its former beauty. But Seaside was more than just a project; it was spot that had called to him his entire life.

And then one night he saw her.

Her name is Constance Elizabeth Canfield and she tells him Seaside has been her home for over 150 years. But Constance is no ghost; rather, she claims that she has been somehow magically trapped between this life and the next. At first, Garrett can't believe her crazy story-the woman had to be lying! And yet, there was something about Constance that was from another time . . .

Soon this mysterious woman, and flesh and blood man share a closeness they cannot deny. But just as their love begins to bloom, Constance's presence starts mysteriously fading away, soon to be gone forever. Is their love doomed-or is it strong enough to transcend time, and even death itself?



DISCLAIMER: A free copy of this book was received from the publisher through Goodreads. As this is an uncorrected proof, text may be different than the short passage quoted here.

On a roll...

Whoo-hoo! Just found out this evening that I have won a third book from Goodreads, The Pindar Diamond by Katie Hickman. That's two historical fiction and one historical romance in eight months. Apparently, the PTB agree with Adelle and think there's enough mystery in my life, since I have absolutely no luck winning anything in that genre. Actually, though this falls into the genre of historical fiction, it is also a bit of a mystery, so I guess it does (sort of) count. I'm looking forward to receiving it!



Here's the blurb from GoodReads:


In a small town on the Italian coast, a mysterious woman washes ashore. She is crippled, mute, and clutches a bundle to her chest—a baby the townspeople insist is a real-life mermaid. It can only bring bad luck; they pay a troupe of acrobats to carry mother and child away.

In the bustling trade center of Venice, merchant Paul Pindar is the subject of his colleagues' concern. Since his return from Constantinople, they have found him changed; raging over the loss of his beloved, Celia, he has gambled away his fortune at the gaming tables. But when a priceless blue diamond surfaces in the city, Pindar recognizes the opportunity to regain everything he has lost—including, perhaps, the woman he loves.

A celebrated writer of history and travel books, Katie Hickman has always been a master of evoking time and place. With The Pindar Diamond, her follow-up to The Aviary Gate, she brings early-seventeenth-century Italy vividly to life, and also demonstrates her maturity as a novelist. A tale of love and avarice, with a touch of the mystical, The Pindar Diamond is rich with historical detail, and unfolds with urgency and grace. It is accomplished, wholly satisfying historical fiction.