Happy 81st, Russ
It isn’t yellow, it isn’t on A4 paper, but it is in the spirit of the Slickman A4 Quotation Event (the SA4QE), so buy Russell Hoban’s books and join The Kraken, while I 4Qate:“I went down the stairs and out into the winter sky (very high and open, with gold-tinted clouds) and the last part of the day. Brightly lit newsagents and snack shops led me out of the station into lights and traffic and crossings and railings and the Finchley Road. After the cramped closeness of Soho it all seemed very wide and spread out and strange to me. Elijah’s Lucky Dragon was only a short walk from the station, between Leverton and Sons Ltd, Independent Funeral Directors since 1789, and The Gate Lodge pub. I wouldn’t have minded dropping in for a quick one but The Gate Lodge sounded like designer beers and careful drinkers and the pub front was red with hanging plants and yellow outlines on the panels and windows, all very charming. I don’t like charming and I don’t like careful drinkers. I like pubs plain and dark and old-fashioned with names like The Hand of Glory, The Spade and Coffin and The Jolly Sandboys. With serious drinkers. There was a bus stop nearby with dark huddles of people and buses coming and going. In this cold northern twilight the buses looked larger and redder than the ones in my part of town.” Russell Hoban, Linger Awhile, Chapter 26, page 101-102 (published by Bloomsbury Publishing, 2006)
Happy 81st birthday, Russell Hoban, from the NZBC.
posted by Chris Bell at 11:17 PM
3 Comments:
Bless you for reminding me. I think I shall go reread Turtle Diary this evening.
Ditto. But it's Riddley Walker for me.
Recently named number 79 in Pantagraph.com's list of "100 Best First Lines From Novels", Stephen:
http://tinyurl.com/7d7nl
Of course, this makes for interesting reading; although like all such lists provides room for plenty of argument and disagreement (like, why does 'Riddley' only make 79?). And Anthony Burgess's 'Earthly Powers' opener has to be the list's most glaring omission: http://tinyurl.com/8eaat
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