favorite lines from 2019
welcome to the trash heap it's time for rory's favorite lines of the year
i am going to fill this end of the year newsletter not with advice - because i am literally the least qualified person on earth to advise anyone on anything that is not "how to watch 2000 shows on netflix in one calendar year" - but with lines from some of my favorite 2019 reads
i did a lot of reading on audio and library e-book this year which makes it difficult to go back to those books and pull lines so let's just agree this is entirely noncomprehensive and move on hooray
book number one is THE TENTH GIRL by Sara Faring
there are two kinds of Sara Faring lines that i lose my mind over. the first is the kind that makes me cry, and the second is the kind that makes me laugh, because it's so clear that Sara had the time of her fucking life writing it.
kind one: “'I am yours,’ Mother whispered to me in that kitchen, holding me against her and reading my scalp with her fingers as if to memorize the feel of my head. As if that would be a consolation to us both. 'You are mine. The color cannot be stripped out of us.’”
like wreck me it's fine
kind two: “‘First of all, too fucking bad, and second of all, that's not what I meant, kiddo.' Amusement plays in his keen rat eyes. 'You've got to suck one of the meat bags bone-dry before you jet out of here for the night. You’ve got to shuck its pretty little skull like a corncob.’”
LOOK at that!!!!! just! the most fun a sentence can have! shuck its pretty little skull like a corncob goodbYE where do you think to put those words together god i love sara's brain
book number two is THE DEVOURING GRAY by Charlie Lynn Herman
my favorite line from THE DEVOURING GRAY is really a favorite scene but i'm not about to let disney sue me because i copypasted a wholeass chapter into this newsletter so
“Violet let months of pain and sorrow rush through her as she clawed back her mind. This was hurt it would never understand. This was hurt made from love."
charlie is super good at like. taking big shit and distilling it so it's communicable to other people which i know is like the point of writing but is also not a thing i personally am very good at (IMPENETRABLE CONFUSION ONLY!) and i love this scene for how clearly and compassionately they lay out the struggle their main character has been going through
book number three is MIDDLEGAME by Seanan McGuire
i was sold on this book from the first page but the line that really really Got Me was this one
"Behind him, Asphodel Baker's astrolabe continues to smoothly rewind, and all of this has happened before."
i don't know exactly what it is about this line that completely swallowed me whole but i'm pretty sure it's "and all of this has happened before" which is just so smoothly tacked on there at the end! just the easiest most gentle little smack to the back of the head like HELLO we're DOING something here