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Rayme – A Memoir of the Seventies
Jayne Anne Phillips
‘This story could be about any one of those people, but it is about Rayme and comes to no conclusions.’
Rock Springs
Richard Ford
‘But as I read on a napkin once, between the idea and the act a whole kingdom lies. And I had a hard time with my acts, which were oftentimes offender's acts.’
Why I Love Country Music
Elizabeth Tallent
‘The harmonica player is left standing alone in the light, talking to himself. He cleans the spit from his instrument with a white handkerchief so old it is nearly transparent.’
Monster Deal
Frederick Barthelme
‘I'm about ready to go see what’s happening when they come in, each of them carrying a flamingo from the front yard.’
Still Life With Watermelon
Bobbie Ann Mason
‘When she saw a photograph of a cornucopia in a magazine, she imagined a huge watermelon stuck in its mouth.’
Money
Martin Amis
‘How did I get like this? It can’t just be the booze and all the junk food I put away. I must have been booked in for this a long time ago.’
Blow Your House Down
Pat Barker
‘There was a moment of complete silence, one of those inexplicable, simultaneous pauses in conversation that come over groups of people in a crowded room.’
Emma Bovary’s Eyes
Julian Barnes
‘Her eyes are black: passion and depth. Her eyes are green: wildness and jealousy. Her eyes are brown: reliability and ordinariness. Her eyes are violet: the novel is by Raymond Chandler.‘
Foreign Buddies
Ursula Bentley
‘She had to explain this, and the thought crossed her mind to dwell on this personal note, to put out a feeler to test Christina's reaction to the idea of sexual experiment.’
Extracts From The Journal Of Flying Officer J
William Boyd
‘The squadron left today for the city. The mess cold and sad, Verschoyle, with uncharacteristic generosity, said I could keep the monoplane.’
