I'd say that counts as a unanimous vote for go ahead and post another

The previous quote was from Intuition by Allegra Goodman.

And here's a new one:
A few months after my twenty-first birthday, a stranger called to give me the news. I was living in New York at the time, on Ninety-fourth between Second and First, part of that unnamed, shifting border between East Harlem and the rest of Manhattan. It was an uninviting block, treeless and barren, lined with soot-colored walk-ups that cast heavy shadows for most of the day. The apartment was small, with slanting floors and irregular heat and a buzzer downstairs that didn't work, so that visitors had to call ahead from a pay phone at the corner gas station, where a black Doberman the size of a wolf paced through the night in vigilant patrol, its jaws clamped around an empty beer bottle.

While browsing in the local bookstore today, I picked up this book and sat down in the cafe to look at it. I ultimately spent an hour and a half(!) in the cafe, reading almost half the book. Needless to say, I really liked it.

The opening lines to Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama

“Boggis and Bunce and Bean
One fat, one short, one lean.
These horrible crooks
So different in looks
Were nonetheless equally mean.”

quote:

Boggis and Bunce and Bean

That can only be Roald Dahl. I don't know which book, but I'm going to guess it's the one with the giant. Was it called The BFG?

Right author, wrong book.

Well, it's not either of the Charlie books, or Matilda. He has so many children's books, though.

Did you ever read his short stories meant for adults? They were fantastic. Same, gruesome and evil sense of humor.

Also, did you know he was a notorious and despicable anti-semite? What a strange and interesting character.

I haven’t read the adult stories but I did know about his anti-semitism. I will check those out the next time I am at the book store.

The quote in question was from my favorite book of his, Fantastic Mr. Fox. I think they are going to make that into a film; that should be interesting. Here is a new quote:

“He would have needed hands and arms to lift himself up, but instead of that he had only his numerous little legs, which were in very different kind of perpetual motion and which, besides, he could not control.”

Woohoo! An easy one! It's The Metamorphosis by Kafka. I'll try to come up with another one soon.

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:
I haven’t read the adult stories but I did know about his anti-semitism. I will check those out the next time I am at the book store.

If you find it, grab the Roald Dahl Omnibus.
You can prolly find it cheap on the bargain shelf, or, I'm guessing, at Amazon. It collects all of the short story collections. If you can't find that, I'd recommend "Kiss Kiss," "Switch Bitch," "Someone Like You," and/or "Tales of the Unexpected." You might recognize some of the stories if you ever watched the old UK series "Tales from the Darkside." One or two of the old "Alfred Hitchcock Presents..." were also taken from Dahl stories.

quote:

Originally posted by MajorNougat:
"The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience."

Nice one, Nougat. I actually know that one but I am sure that someone else here knows it as well.

Well, somebody go ahead and answer it.

To Kill A Mockingbird

Ok, here's a good one.

"A bore is a person who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company."

quote:

Posted by kendocubano
, did you know he was a notorious and despicable anti-semite? What a strange and interesting character.

Re: Roald Dahl; he was anti-Israeli policies and against rabid Zionism, but he didn't hate the Jews as a race or a religion. He has got a lot of unfair press over this contention.

To Paddy's quote: no idea, except perhaps someone sassy like John Cheever??

quote:

Originally posted by PaddyG:
Ok, here's a good one.

"A bore is a person who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company."

I supose it's John MacDonald in 'The Turquoise Lament'.

Ok, an easy one:

"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is.I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the drug store, but that's just peanuts to space."

Very nice, Alexxis! Finally, a new player!

I know this one, but I'll let it breathe for a while.

Well, it's Douglas Adams, but since it has been literally light-years since I read him, I'll guess the first; Hitchiker's Guide?

quote:

Originally posted by Ish:
Well, it's Douglas Adams, but since it has been literally light-years since I read him, I'll guess the first; Hitchiker's Guide?

You are correct, sir. Batter up! Or, Batsman, if you prefer cricket.

"On my right hand there were lines of fishing stakes resembling a mysterious system of half submerged bamboo fences, incomprehensible in it's division of the domain of tropical fishes, and crazy of aspect as if abandoned forever by some nomad tribe of fishermen now gone to the other end of the ocean; for there was no sign of human habitation as far as the eye could reach."