"Whenever you read a good book, it's like the author is right there, in the room, talking to you, which is why I don't like to read good books."

i've started dogearing the books i read, and writing down my favorite lines. these are some of the bits i liked most...

All these things the Duchess Gloriana XII thought of as she rode her ducal bicycle from the castle to Tully’s cottage on the fringes of the forest. (14)

There was the beat of a kettle drum and the blowing of a trumpet and the group followed Tully out of the courtyard down the hill and over the bridge to the border of the duchy. Little children lined the roads and applauded. Old men and young women marched alongside. They sang the ancient war song of Grand Fenwick, “The Crooked Stick and the Gray Goose Wing.” Some cried and some cheered and all felt very brave. (37)

The Foreign Commissar laughed. His laugh was a lusty bellow starting as dramatically and ending as suddenly as a clap of thunder. When it was done, he said briskly, “It seems we must wait.” (153)