Thursday, December 30, 2004

Nina was conducting her comme il faut class. "Be careful who takes you to Ascot," she said, "because unless you have married a rich husband, he is probably a crook. Even if he's your husband, well ... Not many honest men can take four days off their work, dress themselves in a black suit and a silk hat with all the accoutrements, and lose a lot of money on the horses, and take you out afterward or join a party of people like him. For Ascot you will need warm underwear in case it's cold. You can wear a flimsy dress on top. But your man is bound to be a crook, bound to be. It teems with crooks ..."

Muriel Spark, The Finishing School (109-110)

Sunday, December 12, 2004

It was Sambuca, though Bradley could barely focus on his face. The world was gray and faint. But he saw that Sambuca was grinning at him, revealing a row of yellow pointed teeth. And then Sambuca held up a knife so Ted could see it, and smiled again, and with two fingers grabbed the flesh of Ted's cheek and sliced it off with the knife.

Michael Crichton, State of Fear (533)