100 Best First Lines From Novels

Also by American Book Review. Here are some:

1. Call me Ishmael. ~ Herman Melville, Moby-Dick (1851)

2. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. ~ Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813)

5. Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. ~ Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (1955)

10. I am an invisible man. ~ Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)

15. The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. ~Samuel Beckett, Murphy (1938)

18. This is the saddest story I have ever heard. ~ Ford Madox Ford, The Good Soldier (1915)

24. It was a wrong number that started it, the telephone ringing three times in the dead of night, and the voice on the other end asking for someone he was not. ~ Paul Auster, City of Glass (1985)

28. Mother died today. ~ Albert Camus, The Stranger (1942; trans. Stuart Gilbert)

32. Where now? Who now? When now? ~ Samuel Beckett, The Unnamable (1953; trans. Patrick Bowles)

37. Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. ~ Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway (1925)

47. There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. ~ C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)

59. It was love at first sight. ~ Joseph Heller, Catch-22 (1961)

64. In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925)

78. The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. ~ L. P. Hartley, The Go-Between (1953)

88. Of all the things that drive men to sea, the most common disaster, I've come to learn, is women. ~ Charles Johnson, Middle Passage (1990)

The whole list is here.

Stupidest Things I've Said: Part#2

Two shops next to each other. One sells meat, and the other sells coffee. I am walking toward them while chatting with my friend.

I enter a shop without looking at the sign:

Me: "Hi, can I have a pound of Turkish coffee, please?"

The Butcher (freezes while wielding a big knife and attempting to hack a chunk of meat) : ...

Staying Awake

Twilight...the hours before daybreak are always haunting.

The stillness of the air lulls me into that suspended state between sleep and awakening. My body rests while my mind flutters like a baby sensing the moment of birth closing by. I gaze at the sky, and my cousin's face comes vividly to me. I smile inwardly. I remember her animated voice, and I replay the conversations we had at this hour of dusk years ago over and over.

We were two small girls wrapped up in blankets on the roof of her family's house. The house, situated on a small hill in the city of Hoson, was surrounded by fields of olive, grape, and apple trees. We would spend the night eating green almonds, peaches, labneh sandwiches, and drinking tongue-burning tea.

We would gaze at the night sky and wait breathlessly to catch a falling star. The cold would sting our faces, but we would continue talking about our dreams, our hopes, and our little adventures. The moon would rise high, the trees would bathe in a soft glow, the earth would sigh, the lights of streets would turn off one by one, and we would be awake still.

The first rays of light would caress our faces and warm us through and through. We would go downstairs then and crash on our beds and sleep peacefully.

I heard her voice again yesterday. I was sitting at my desk in LA, and she was sitting on her couch in Duabi. I looked at the clock on the wall. "What time is it in Dubai now?" I asked. I heard her smile through thousands of miles and wires. "It is 4 AM in the morning," she replied.

Photo by catmadongam.

Um..Evolution Theories?

A little girl asked her mother: How did the human race appear?

The mother answered: God made Adam and Eve, they had children, and so was all mankind made.

Two days later, she asked her father the same question. The father answered:
Many years ago, there were monkeys from which the human race has developed.

The confused girl returned to her mother and said: Mom, how is it possible that you told me that the human race was created by God, and Papa says that they were developed from monkeys?

The mother answered: Well dear, it is very simple. I told you about the origin of my side of the family while your father told you about the origin of his side...

For Noodle Lovers

Shinyokohama Raamen Museum is a paradise for noodle lovers, but not just because of the informative exhibits of the history of instant ramen noodles; the centerpiece here is the basement, which contains a recreation of 1950s-era Tokyo done in incredible detail, complete with operating branches of 10 famous ramen joints.

Wikipedia

To read more about it, check this interesting article here.

Photo source: Flickr. Please click on each photo to go to its original page.

100 Best Last Lines From Novels

American Book Review listed the 100 best last lines from novels. Here are some:

6. “Yes,” I said. “Isn’t it pretty to think so?” –Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises (1926)

10. Yes, she thought, laying down her brush in extreme fatigue, I have had my vision. –Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse (1927)

14. Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity! –Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener (1853)

27. Is it possible for anyone in Germany, nowadays, to raise his right hand, for whatever the reason, and not be flooded by the memory of a dream to end all dreams? –Walter Abish, How German Is It? (1980)

37. P.S. Sorry I forgot to give you the mayonnaise.–Richard Brautigan, Trout Fishing in America (1967)

41. I lingered round them, under that benign sky; watched the moths fluttering among the heath, and hare-bells; listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass; and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth. –Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights (1847)

63. The key to the treasure is the treasure. –John Barth, “Dunyazadiad” from Chimera (1972)

71. So that, in the end, there was no end. –Patrick White, The Tree of Man (1955)

77. “Tomorrow, I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.” –Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind (1936)

100. “GOOD GRIEF—IT’S DADDY!” –Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg, Candy (1958)

View on Top of Mount Everest

You want to see what the person who stands on the summit of Mount Everest sees? Check this 360 degree breathtaking view here.



Photo taken by féileacán.

Stupidest Things I've Said - Part #1

This conversation really took place when I was 18:

Me: "I saw a cool car today."
Brother (15 at the time):"Really? What model?"
Me: "I am not sure. I think it's a Toyota Ferrari"
Brother: ...

Why Parents Get Drunk Sometimes

The boss wondered why one of his most valued employees had not phoned in sick one day and was not yet in the office. Having an urgent problem with one of the main computers, he dialed the employee's home phone number and was greeted with a child's whisper.

' Hello ? '

'Is your daddy home?' he asked.

' Yes ,' whispered the small voice.

'May I talk with him?'

The child whispered, ' No .'

Surprised and wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, 'Is your Mommy there?'

'Yes'

'May I talk with her?'

Again the small voice whispered, ' No .'

Hoping there was somebody with whom he could leave a message, the boss asked, 'Is anybody else there?'


' Yes ,' whispered the child, ' a policeman '.


Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee's home, the boss asked, 'May I speak with the policeman?'


' No, he's busy ', whispered the child.


'Busy doing what?'


' Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the Fireman ,' came the whispered answer.


Growing more worried as he heard a loud noise in the background through the ear piece on the phone, the boss asked, 'What is that noise?'

' A helicopter ' answered the whispering voice.

'What is going on there?' demanded the boss, now truly apprehensive.

Again, whispering, the child answered, 'The search team just landed a helicopter .'

Alarmed, concerned and a little frustrated the boss asked, 'What are they searching for?'

Still whispering, the young voice replied with a muffled giggle...

' Me .'

Things People Actually Said in Court

Read what some lawyers or witnesses actually said in court - excerpts from "Disorder in Court" book.

Featured by Scribd.

Q: What is your date of birth?

A: July fifteen.

Q: What year?

A: Every year.

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Q: How old is your son, the one living with you?

A: Thirty-eight or thirty-five, I can't remember which.

Q: How long has he lived with you?

A: Forty-five years.

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Q: What was the first thing your husband said to you when he woke that morning?

A: He said, "Where am I, Cathy?"

Q: And why did that upset you?

A: My name is Susan.

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Q: And where was the location of the accident?

A: Approximately milepost 499.

Q: And where is milepost 499?

A: Probably between milepost 498 and 500.

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Q: Sir, what is your IQ?

A: Well, I can see pretty well, I think.

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Q: Did you blow your horn or anything?

A: After the accident?

Q: Before the accident.

A: Sure, I played for ten years. I even went to school for it.

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Q: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about
it until the next morning?

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Q: The youngest son, the twenty-year old, how old is he?

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Q: Were you present when your picture was taken?

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Q: Was it you or your younger brother who was killed in the war?

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Q: Did he kill you?

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Q: How far apart were the vehicles at the time of the collision?

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Q: You were there until the time you left, is that true?

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Q: How many times have you committed suicide?

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Q: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?

A: Yes.

Q: And what were you doing at that time?

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Q: She had three children, right?

A: Yes.

Q: How many were boys?

A: None.

Q: Were there any girls?

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Q: You say the stairs went down to the basement?

A: Yes.

Q: And these stairs, did they go up also?

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Q: Mr. Slatery, you went on a rather elaborate honeymoon, didn't you?

A: I went to Europe, Sir.

Q: And you took your new wife?

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Q: How was your first marriage terminated?

A: By death.

Q: And by whose death was it terminated?

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Q: Can you describe the individual?

A: He was about medium height and had a beard.

Q: Was this a male, or a female?

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Q: Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?

A: All my autopsies are performed on dead people.

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Q: All your responses must be oral, OK? What school did you go to?

A: Oral.

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Q: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?

A: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.

Q: And Mr. Dennington was dead at the time?

A: No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy.

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Q: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?

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Q: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?

A: No.

Q: Did you check for blood pressure?

A: No.

Q: Did you check for breathing?

A: No.

Q: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began
the autopsy?

A: No.

Q: How can you be so sure, Doctor?

A: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.

Q: But could the patient have still been alive nevertheless?

A: It is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law somewhere.

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What Would Tyler Durden Do?

"What Would Tyler Durden Do" is a blog focused on bringing you the latest gossip and news about rich and famous celebrities. And then making fun of them. Why? Because f#%@ them, that's why.

WWTDD

If you really want to roll on the floor laughing, pay What Would Tyler Durden Do? a visit. The way the author makes fun of celebs is just hilarious. His comments are smart and drop-dead funny. My favorite parts are the "[someone] has still got it" and "I think I am in love" entries where he posts ugly/weird pictures of celebrities and rants about how beautiful and gorgeous they are. Warning: The blog may contain offensive pictures and language.

Great Commercials: Part#11

A Honda commercial. One word: amazing.

Mazz - Life Through Jordanian Eyes

This is Mazz (Mazen Al-Ali), a talented Jordanian photographer. I stumbled upon his work on Flickr sometime ago, and I really liked what I saw. In his profile, Mazz says:

I'm me. lost in a sea of wondrous light and I take every chance I get to make some magic happen.

You can check his blog, Sanity Measures, here. Please click on each of the following photos if you want to go to its original page.

I am the Earth and the Earth is Me

Watching this video is a great way of celebrating Earth Day today.



Earth, we miss you.

Paris, Je T'aime

Paris...Je T'aime Paris...

You have to see this movie if you believe in love. 18 stories of people falling in love under the Parisian skies. The movie is exciting, weird, funny, sad, and uplifting...sigh...I need to find me a soul mate...

Here is the trailer:

Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits : Review

The novel, written by Laila Lalami, is a bittersweet tale of survival. I had the pleasure of reading the book this week, and it made me love and hate life at the same time. It is the story of four Moroccans who attempt to enter Spain illegally by embarking on a dangerous boat trip. We accompany them through their hellish endeavor just to see how their life changes after that. For some of them, achieving a goal comes with a hefty price: a strip of identity and beliefs, or loss of family and love. They have spent their lives pursuing a dream just to discover that it's a harsh reality. Hope can really be dangerous sometimes.

I recommend this book if you are in for something different, and I am definitely keeping my eyes open for what Lalami has in store for us in the future.

The Lion who Lived Among Humans

Incredible story from the Daily Mail about Christian, the Lion:

The furniture shop was on the King's Road in London. It sold tables, wardrobes, chairs and desks - but anybody peering through its plate-glass window on a Sunday might have noticed something rather more unusual. Amid all the pine and oak, stretched out languidly on a bench, there was a lion. And it wasn't stuffed.

For a year, the Big Cat was part of it all, cruising the streets in the back of a Bentley, popping in for lunch at Casserole, a local restaurant, even posing for a Biba fashion advert.

He eventually grew too big to be kept as a pet and was taken to Kenya, where he was rehabilitated into the wild by the 'Lion Man', George Adamson.

When his two owners visited him years later to say goodbye:

Christian stared at us in a very intense way," says Rendall. "I knew his expressions and I could see he was interested. We called him and he stood up and started to walk towards us very slowly.

"Then, as if he had become convinced it was us, he ran towards us, threw himself on to us, knocked us over, knocked George over and hugged us, like he used to, with his paws on our shoulders.

Check this amazing video of the reunion:

Flickr Magic Moments V

This moment is captured by TakeMyWorldApart. It is part of her beautiful Texture/Vintage Collection on Flickr. You can click on the photo to go to its original page.

Sun, Moon, Statues, and Clouds

When we look through Steiner62's eyes, we see gorgeous things. We see ethereal clouds, breathtaking sunsets, haunting moons, and beautiful statues. Steiner62's account on Flickr is full of promise and is definitely worth a visit.

You can click on each photo to go to its original page.

Feeling Reckless? Devil's Pool is this Way..

I might consider doing this if I have wings to fly with...um...in case I fall off the cliff, that is. No.. no need to rub your eyes. What you are seeing is true. These people are splashing in a small pool that hangs on the cliff of the Victoria Falls in Southern Africa, between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Immersive Videos

Forget the 360 degree view of photos! Behold the 360 degree view of videos from Immersive Videos.
Here is a sample. Move you mouse over the video when it starts to see different views:

He is Letting Go of Arabic

It finally hit me, and it is a strange feeling. My baby brother is losing his mother tongue. He was 4 years old when we moved to the US. Since then, his Arabic vocabulary has dwindled alarmingly until it reached rock bottom. I have noticed recently that he does not use a single word of Arabic when he converses. I am happy that he got to learn a new language and become proficient in it, but it feels like he lost something in return.
All of us, his siblings, speak Arabic fluently except for him. He does not know how to read or write it, and I am afraid that it will set a barrier between us.
Forgive us, brother, for not trying harder to teach you. I don't know if you will ever need to speak Arabic if you live here all your life, but I'd like to think that someday you will. I know that I am being selfish for asking you to master two language under such difficult circumstances... hey, I don't even speak English as good as you do, but I am afraid that one day you will confront us and ask "Why?".

I wonder, is it too late?

How an Eagle Captures his Food

Amazing video of a golden eagle capturing its prey. What do you think? I am assuming it's real.

The Beautiful Verzasca

I was amazed by the photos I've seen of Verzasca while reading about free diving. This hidden valley in Switzerland is a piece of paradise on earth, and it is definitely going to be on my must-see-places-before-I-die list.

Verzasca Valley is a long narrow valley located in Ticino, the Italian speaking part of Switzerland. This valley offers a wild and fascinating landscape, with the Alps on one side and a lake on the other. The river has an emerald green color, and thanks to its good visibility, it is famous as a river diving destination.

Wikipedia

The photos were taken by Tom Volger. You can check the rest of these wonderful photos from Volger's Flickr account here.

Inside the Space Station

A great documentary from Discovery Channel about the lives of astronauts in the International Space Station and some of NASA's projects to improve space discovery mission . I really enjoyed watching it. You can watch Part#1 here.

Dollar Store Scarlett O'Hara Dress

Craftzine blog posted a cute story inspired by Gone with the Wind movie about Scarlett O'Hara's famous dress:

Craftster user Grenouille78 created a replica of Scarlett O'Hara's famous green-and-white picnic dress from Gone With the Wind using just $10 worth of materials from the dollar store. Talk about making something out of nothing!

The original dress:

My Idea of Happiness

This is my idea of happiness...the moments.

A beautiful photo titled "Smiles = Award = Happiness" and captured by Divs Sejpal from Flickr.

Sejpal wrote:

19th National Photo Contest was held by Photo Division of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. Theme was ‘HAPPINESS’. Out of approx. 485 participants and their nearly 2100 entries, three winners and five consolation prizes are awarded on 24th April, 2007. Pleasure to declare that i stood fourth and it won me a consolation prize.

You can click on the photo to go to its original page.

Happy Birthday, Mama

You are my proof of life.
You are my luminous lighthouse that ushers me forward through never-ending journeys of trials.
You are my chilled fountain of love where I stop to rest my exhausted soul.
You say that I remind you of existence, but you define all existence to me.
I would never trade the moments we've spent together. I keep you close and etched in every frame of my mind.

I adore you the way you are: When you ask God to bless dough while your delicate hands knead the mixture, when you sing old songs while you brush my hair, when you murmur endearments to my youngest brother over your cup of afternoon coffee, when you light a candle in the church, when you gather me close to your heart and allow me to listen dreamily to its steady beating, when you pat the side of my face, when you laugh over my silly endeavors, and when you strike a funny pose to make my days lighter.

I have been harsh or unforgiving at times, but I know you see beyond the thorns in my heart. I am still a child that stumbles, but I do love you, and I hope I will become a fraction of what you are.

Happy Birthday ya Mama.

Load of Cute Baby Wild Animals

1) The Cute Knut: The polar cub of Berlin's zoo:



2) Tiger cub:



3) Baby Seal:



4) Baby chimpanzee:

How to Tell Your Friend That His Cat is Dead

Priceless tips from Scribd:

Let me start by saying, I own a cat, love my pet, and wouldn't ever do anything to hurt it. With that said, my friend was watching a mutual friend's cat while he was on vacation. Before he left, he warned that the cat was old (21 years old), and not doing so hot. He suspected that he was ready to die. Sure enough, the cat died on the last day of vacation. My friend, the sitter, asked me how he should tell him. I gave him these options to break the news:

1) "I've got good news, and I've got bad news. Bad news is, your cat's dead. The good news is, I saved a lot on my car insurance."

2) "Hey, you're out of milk, the chips are stale, your cat is dead, and the light bulb in the bathroom needs to be changed."

3) (When they walk into the apartment) *sniff* *sniff* "You smell dead cat?"

4) Leave a suicide note next to the cat with a finished bag of catnip mentioning how boring the sitter was.

5) "Are you still interested in those taxidermy classes?"

6) Get rid of the cat, draw a chalk out line, put up police tape all over the place, and act stupid.

7) "Will everyone with a live cat please step forward.....not so fast buddy."

8) "You have a couple of messages: your mom called, she wants you to call her back; your landlord said the rent is late; your cat said 'bye'."

9) (When he picks him up from the airport)...
Sitter: Let's play a game....dead or human?
Owner: Huh? Ok.
Sitter: You?
Owner: Human.
Sitter: Me ?
Owner: Human
Sitter: Your cat?
Owner: Huh ?!?!?

10) Owner: Thanks for watching the place. Where are my keys?
Sitter: Oh, they're under your dead cat.