The lines that linger
Can we change? What kind of woman has sex on Christmas mornings? What makes us lucky animals?
Before we begin…
Think about the book, story, or article you just finished, or the one you are reading now or the one you reread often? What sentences jump out at you? What lines lingered in your thoughts long after you finished reading? What did they make you want to talk about with someone else?
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“What I’d wanted to know was, couldn’t people change? Did they have to settle for just being who they were from cradle to grave?” - A Patchwork Planet by Anne Tyler
I copied this line into my common book on January 5, 2020 as I was re-reading Anne Tyler’s A Patchwork Planet. I look back on that period and see that it was just as the pandemic was taking hold, my beloved dog had just died, and my father had just turned 94. Covid took him two weeks later. I can’t account for why this line reached into my heart so deeply at that particular time but I remember needing to write it down because it is a question that burns continually for me as I look back on the life I’ve lived so far and wonder about the time ahead.
What do you think? Can we change? What happens when we grow up/older - do we just become more ourselves and what does that mean?
Why I am I writing about these sentences today? Well, you guys got me thinking. Read on for more.
Today, the mic is all yours: introducing “Fourth Saturdays” at Spark
One of the richest parts of writing Spark is the comments section where you have shared your books, your stories, your perspective on this life we share. A number of you have told me recently that you enjoy reading the comments almost as much as my post itself.
Fueled by this input, I took some time recently to go through all the comments you’ve so generously left here. I thought it would be fun to revisit some of those and expand on the conversations we’ve started or take them in an entirely new direction. Every fourth Saturday, I’ll reprint a few comments – sometimes linked by a theme, other times just because they struck me a certain way – and invite you to weigh in. I’ll keep the space largely clear of extra links and articles so the focus can stay where it belongs: on you and your words and whatever conversation rises up.
Consider this an experiment and let me know how it works for you. All you have to do is leave a comment! I’m excited about this and will happily participate in the conversation by responding with whatever is sparked by the stories, insights, accounts shared each week from the treasure trove of our comments section.
First up: lines that linger…
As I searched through the comments I found a few quotes from books that registered with you, lines that opened up a book and told us whether we wanted to keep going, lines that got one of us thinking about women who make love on Christmas morning, another that seemed to reflect an important truth we want to remember — all fodder for conversation.
Take a look at these and share whatever they make you think about. Or, share a line you’ve just found or that always makes you think and where you came across it. What did they make you think about? What do you think these words have stayed with you? And how do you preserve the lines you love for future reference?
Let’s talk.
First lines…
Our story opens in the mind of Luther L. (L for LeRoy) Fliegler, who is lying in his bed, not thinking of anything, but just aware of sounds, conscious of his own breathing, and sensitive to his own heartbeats.” - Appointment in Samarra by John O’Hara.
From the article I read that led me to this revelation, I learned, according to that author, that this was the first novel that opened with a scene of lovemaking on Christmas morning. (Hard to believe.) I guess Luther L. Fliegler wasn't just being sensitive to his own heartbeats. I read a lot of O'Hara one summer, until I realized that the characters' drinking and sarcasm were getting me seriously down, and I dropped him like a cold fish. But according---again to the author who led me to this opening line---O'Hara was the first author who depicted women as sexual beings. Again, dubious, wouldn't you say? But dubious or not, this scene, and a subsequent Christmas Day hook-up between another couple, led to serious critics of the day dumping on him for portraying women as---basically---slatterns. Yeah, you know, like all women who make love on Christmas morning. - Kate O., New Jersey
***
"I thought nothing of it at first. The ocean looked a little closer to our hotel than usual. That was all. A white foamy wave had climbed all the way up to the rim of sand where the beach fell abruptly down to the sea. You never saw water on that stretch of sand." - from Wave, by Sonali Deraniyagala, about the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. - from beth Kennedy
***
“When the train stopped someone was calling ‘Oxgodby, Oxgodby’.
These words open A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr. It is about a shell- shocked veteran of The Great War who goes to a rural parish church to recover a lime washed medieval wall painting and restore it to view and the people he encounters. Simply beautiful in every respect. I am a city urban person through and through but this book encapsulates life for me and I love the lead characters.- O L O Bunny aka Kevin
***
“I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice--not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.” - Judy Reeves on A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
***
Memorable lines..
“What many people seemed not to remember was that a human being who got up under his own power on even one morning and saw the sun and had food to eat was a very lucky animal. Knowing that each day was a life in itself had led him to make a thousand good decisions.” - The Old Man by Thomas Perry
I've been keeping track for years now of quotes that really hit me from books I've read. I loved the book The Old Man by Thomas Perry, which has been on my mind lately since FX has put out a series based on the book. Leslie Frigon
What line lingers for you?
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P.S. And now, your moment of Zen…a tree grows, leaf by leaf
Joleen F. of California found this and asks, “what about this?” I say, why not?
Calling for Your Contribution to “Moment of Zen”
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I recently finished 'tom lake' by ann patchett, one of my fav authors. the book takes place in northern Michigan a place dear to me, and it delivers beyond expectations.
“There is no explaining this simple truth about life: you will forget much of it. The painful things you were certain you’d never be able to let go? Now you’re not entirely sure when they happened, while the thrilling parts, the heart-stopping joys, splintered and scattered and became something else. Memories are then replaced by different joys and larger sorrows, and unbelievably, those things get knocked aside as well, until one morning you’re picking cherries with your three grown daughters and your husband goes by on the Gator and you are positive that this is all you’ve ever wanted in the world.”
― Ann Patchett, Tom Lake
Dickens's Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” Because even though I first heard it read aloud by my 7th grade teacher in 1956, the sentence resonates today. Not only politically in this country, but in my heart as I age.