As promised, more of my favourite descriptions…

A couple of books have more than one chosen description, I love them that much. And, if I could, I’d quote the whole of Tolkien’s ‘The Silmarillion’!

Amor Towles – ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’:
‘After the trumpets sounded their first martial notes, the strings swelled, and then his countrymen began to play, evoking for the American audience the movement of a wolf through the birches, the wind across the steppe, the flicker of a candle in a ballroom, and the flash of a cannon at Borodino.’

Tan Twan Eng – ‘The Gift of Rain’:
‘I have lived, I have travelled the world, and now, like a worn out clock, my life is winding down, the hands slowing, stepping out of the flow of time.’

‘Vespasian Moon’s Fabulous Autumn Carnival’ by Berthold Gambrel

Berthold Gambrel – ‘Vespasian Moon’s Fabulous Autumn Carnival’:
‘She looked, in short, like your favorite actress, just with less make up and glamorous accessories…’

Angela Carter – ‘Nights at the Circus’:
‘For we are at the fag-end, the smouldering cigar-butt, of a nineteenth century which is just about to be ground out in the ashtray of history.’
‘… unimaginable and deserted vastness, where night is coming on, the sun declining in ghastly blood-streaked splendour like a public execution across, it would seem, half the continent…’
‘… progressing through the vastness of nothing to the extremities of nowhere…’

JRR Tolkien – ‘The Silmarillion’:
‘… the ancient stars [Varda] gathered together and set as signs in the heavens… And high in the north as a challenge to Melkor she set the crown of seven mighty stars to swing… the Sickle of the Valar and sign of doom.’
‘… as the host of Fingolfin marched… the Sun rose flaming in the West; and Fingolfin unfurled his blue and silver banners, and blew his horns… and the ages of the stars were ended.’

‘The Complete Cthulhu Mythos Tales’ by HP Lovecraft

HP Lovecraft – ‘The Complete Cthulhu Mythos Tales’:
‘… the spectral hump of Federal Hill, bristling with huddled roofs and steeples whose remote outlines wavered mysteriously, taking fantastic forms as the smoke of the city swirled up and enmeshed them. Blake had a curious sense that he was looking upon some unknown, ethereal world which might or might not vanish in dream if ever he tried to seek it out and enter it in person.’ - from ‘The Haunter of the Dark’.

Kate Braithwaite – ‘The Girl Puzzle’:
‘A good story has a beginning, a middle, and end. You sound like you’re making a list, not telling a story… Better. Now add some detail… I sense a turning point. All this happiness. It’s not good story material. What happened next?’

Louisa May Alcott – ‘Little Women’:
‘There are many Beths in the world, shy and quiet, sitting in corners till needed, and living for others so cheerfully, that no one sees the sacrifices till the little cricket on the hearth stops chirping, and the sweet, sunshiny presence vanishes, leaving silence and shadow behind.’

‘Star Wars': Revenge of the Sith’ by Matthew Stover

Matthew Stover – ‘Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith’:
[the Force] ‘flows over him and around him as though he has stepped into a crystal-pure waterfall… it flows into him and through him and out again without the slightest interference from his conscious will… In the Force, he is beyond questions.’

Juliet Marillier – ‘Wildwood Dancing’:
‘The forest had a special beauty in winter: frozen waterfalls like delicate shawls, foliage shrouded in a glittering, rimy coating, blue-white snowdrifts revealing, here and there, a rich litter of darkened leaves in a thousand damp colours of brown and grey.’

Nancy Springer – ‘I Am Morgan le Fay’:
‘This was a secret place… with the sea washing against rocky shores on three sides and no village anywhere near. Halfway up the hillside… the spring flowed from a rocky scarp into a pool where fallow deer and foxes drank, where willow and roan grew. In their green shadow, silver trout swam with barely a ripple.’

C. Litka – ‘A Night on Isvalar’:
‘… I stared unseeingly into the dark shadows across the table and drifted off into a deep reverie, getting lost in the twisting overgrown memories… Faces of old shipmates and scenes from my youth came back to me. I recalled all the little dramas that I played a part in… All of which was distilled into the smooth, melancholy flavor of romance, the spicy tang of adventure, and the haunting bouquet of remembered youth.’

Not surprisingly, this little description-compiling exercise has left me wanting to re-read those books again! Oh, the hardship… 😉

More Selections of Favourite Descriptions from Books I've Reviewed Part II