Tag: Quote
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Waiting For The Beat To Kick In
While watching Harvey with Mrs. Monkeyshines recently, one of Elwood P. Dowd’s lines struck me as a nice complementary quote to the one in a Kurt Vonnegut book which I wrote about before. And since such thoughts seem appropriately Christmassy, and because I’ve been listening to Dan Le Sac/Scroobius Pip lately, I was minded to…
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A Bouncing Little Monkey
I was going to rattle on about our Little Monkey developing more complex interactions with the world, etc. But then a lyric from a George Benson song popped into my mind, which I think is comment enough: “Let the children’s laughter remind us how we use to be” *. * The original version by the…
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Everything a Baby Needs to Know
In the weeks before the arrival of the Little Monkey, I encountered the same Kurt Vonnegut quote twice, independently, as I bimbled around the internet. I wasn’t even looking for anything to do with Vonnegut or babies, and yet here was a wonderful quote that captured my feelings almost exactly. It’s from God Bless You,…
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Present Tense Book Review – Fathers and Sons
This week I’ve gone for a classic novel by Ivan Turgenev. I like a little bit of Russian literature every now and then, and this is a good ‘un. The title tells you the main theme of the book, and it thoughtfully explores the characters of men (and the odd lady, which the emphasis on…
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Present Tense Book Review – Lady Audley’s Secret: Part 2
(Part One of this Present Tense Book Review.) Robert Audley is still assiduously trying to uncover the eponymous secret, and entertaining me while he does so. He’s a bit of an odd character, and he reminds me of myself, sometimes. He likes his idle pleasures, is phlegmatic (in a good sense), and looks after any…
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Present Tense Book Review – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Part 3
(Part Two of this Present Tense Book Review.) Dern it, this book is blame’ long. Reckon it seems so b’kase I has to read the words slow-like, to git ther meanin’. Still entertaining, even though it’s more of the same, with a nice quote from the King: “Hain’t we got all the fools in town…
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A most excellent black-and-white bear
On the day that the Giant Panda genome is released, I was surprised to discover that the animal was unknown in Europe until 1869. The best bit is the quote by Armand David, the zoologist priest who first scientifically recorded its existence, describing it as a “most excellent black-and-white bear”.
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Present Tense Book Review – Bulldog Drummond: Part 2
(Part One of this Present Tense Book Review.) Mid-way through Chapter 3 and the tension is building nicely; Drummond has done some verbal sparring with the villains, and got to fire off his colt. Chapter 2 opens with a splendid breakfast request by Drummond: “I almost think, James, that I could toy with another kidney.” And part…