Edward Abbey? I think this is either from Desert Solitaire or The Monkeywrench Gang. I'm not really an Abbey fan, but I have read those two and the Dr. Sarvis sounds familiar. Someone else choose a line. I'm at work and am not good at thinking of them off the top of my head.

Good call PRG, it's from the Monkey Wrench Gang. Since the guy taught at UNM he's a big deal here where I go to school. They actually have an entire class dedicated to his stuff.

Ok, I'll take it. I haven't had one in a while, and want to keep this thread alive. Late 20th century American fiction.

"To each other, we were as normal and nice as the smell of bread. We were just a family. In a family even exaggerations make perfect sense."

Hmmm...is it 'The Corrections' ??

Good guess, Ishy. I know this one. It is by an author I really don't like, but others seem to love. The quote is from The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving.

Someone else choose or you'll have to wait till I get home. I suck at thinking of them off the top of my head.

I don't know what it is about John Irving, but I don't like him, either.

Really? I just loved the early John Irvings. Garp, Hotel NH, The 150lb (or whatever) Marriage, Cider House Rules, Prayer for Owen Meany. I thougt they were wonderful. A little twee, maybe, but I read them when I was but a lad. Later Irving, not so much.

Taking the metaphorical bull by the horns, to keep this thread alive. PRG, I hereby confiscate your turn.

Pretty easy one, I think:
“It’s a peculiar apparatus,” said the Officer to the Traveller, gazing with a certain admiration at the device, with which he was, of course, thoroughly familiar.

Thank god someone stepped up!

Hmmmm, kendo,...this quote has me confused. It reads like a line from the beginning of 'The Time Machine' ( my copy not with me), but I remember no Officer, and the hero of the tale is always called The 'Time' Traveller, not merely Traveller.
So, I suspect this is one of those tribute/sequel type novels, like 'The Time Ships' by Stephen Baxter, or possibly that book by K.W. Jeter - 'Morlock Night'....

Ok, so I'm an obsessive Wells/ SF fan...am I close??; but then you do say it's pretty easy, so I may be over-egging things here, ha ha

Same rough era as Wells, but the similarities end there.

Oooooh! Great choice, Kendo! One of my favorite authors.

In The Penal Colony by Franz Kafka.

Ish, I appreciate you don't Google the answer(at least not right away ), so as I'm at work, I hereby authorize you to make a selection in my stead.

Cool, thanks PRG! I haven't read In the Penal Colony; my Kafka has been just the main novels.

Let me think....ok, an American author..

'Justice?- You get justice in the next world, in this world you have the law.'

Another great choice! William Gaddis is one of my favorites. I just finished re-reading Carpenter's Gothic. This line, however, is from A Frolic of His Own. Go again if you want, Ish.

Never read Gaddis. Never really even heard of Gaddis. What am I missing?

quote:

Originally posted by kendocubano:
What am I missing?

Quite a bit.

okey dokey.

'Around the grave in the rundown cemetery were a few of his former advertising colleagues from New York, who recalled his energy and originality and told his daughter, Nancy, what a pleasure it had been to work with him.'

Contemporary US author.

Sorry ish, drawing a blank.

BIG BIG author known for writing of Jewish mother syndrome.

The king of JMS is, of course, Roth. I've read a bunch of his things. It's not Portnoy, or Goodbye Columbus. It's definitley not The Plot Against America. It could be one of the Zuckerman novels, but it's been so long since I've read those. I don't think it's the Human Stain.

Is it I Married a Communist?

I'm going to piggy-back on you Kendo. Now that you've identified the author, I think it's actually from his latest(?) Everyman. I have this book, but I'm at work and can't verify it.