20 November 2007

Reading, Quotes: Forest Mage by Robin Hobb

I've marked some pages with quotes I like from this book. I suppose I'll transcribe them here.

p. 149, a cute witticism
"'Putting Kidona [nomads] in a village. That's like putting your foot in a hat.'"

p. 162, on religion and beliefs
"I guess what I believe in is whatever works best for me at that time. I think most men are like that."

p. 212, on being overweight
"I looked at my plate in front of me. I had just eaten a large meal, but not outrageously large. Still, stupidly, I said, 'I've been putting if off. New clothing. I mean. I keep hoping I'll regain my shape and be able to fit into my old garments again.' And the words that I intended as an excuse were, I suddenly recognized, the absolute truth. I was still waiting for something to restore me to the way I had been. A miracle was required, and I suddenly knew I was not going to get one."

p. 230, on being overweight
"The extra flesh was like a badly fitting garment that I'd slung on over my real body."

p. 281, on autumn
"I had never seen such a spectacle. In the area of the plains where I had grown up, there were groves of trees along the river or following the streambeds. In autumn, their leaves turned a soggy brown and hung on the branches until the frost and falls of snow took them down. Never before had I experienced walking in a forest where the leaves had gone yellow and gold and scarlet. When I lifted my eyes, the brilliance of their color against the bright blue autumn sky was shocking. The leaves had already begun to forsake the trees; there were drifts of them across my path, and as I waded through them they rustled around my feet. There was an indescribable smell in the air, a rich odor of decomposing leaves and fresh rain and the promise of a sharp frost in the night to come."