England has always reveled in its drawing-room dramas, from Jane Austen’s social minefields to E.M. Forster’s Howards End to Upstairs, Downstairs — and yes, the blockbuster Downton Abbey. John Lanchester’s brilliant Capital, set on a once-ordinary London block whose housing prices have skyrocketed, has the distinction of being the first brick-and-mortar novel set squarely in our current times.
Excuses, excuses…and BEST GIVEAWAY EVER
Posted by Lizzie on 09/03/06
We know, we know. It gets boring with the Hag. First, we’re “working”. Then, we’re “moving”. Then, for chrissakes–WE’RE MOVING AGAIN.* Through it all, it’s too much for us TO FREAKING BLOG ONCE EVERY EIGHT WEEKS OR SO. What can we say? We’ve been on the radio (scroll down and left), we’ve been reviewing (do it again), we have–we repeat–been “working”, we have been being a NEW AUNT, and it has become necessary, due to recent iTunes downloads, to spend a great deal of time here. (Speaking of which, are we the ONLY one to notice that the theme accompanying Kate-centered moments is an homage to Vertigo, and, incidentally, an exact replica of a leitmotif used in What Lies Beneath, which at least openly acknowledges its debt to Hermann? Anyone? Anyone?)
Anyway, since we’re getting rid of at least this many books in anticipation of a safe estimate of our post-Baltimore wall space, we’d like to give our loyal O.H. readers one last taste. Penguin is lovely enough to send us their fantastic list each season, and while we’re going to keep many for review, we still have a ton left over, plus a copy of the new lit mag A Public Space and a tote bag from same. We’ve been completely stumped on what kind of contest would be most suited to a move (we know we can’t hope for Urban Dictionary nods EVERY TIME), so we’ve just decided, apropos of our theme ear worm above, to go with lines from books (or movies, you lazy-asses) you’ve never been able to get out of your head. As in our first, best cry-list, we only want the line that pops into your head immediately. We’re not looking for great lines, particularly–no, “Yes to yes” or “stalks like the fingers of dead men”–just, for lack of a better word, linear worms. Think of it as a space to pass your worms on. How often do you get that chance? We know some of you have it every Tuesday in a certain rest stop in New Jersey, but leave some for the rest of us.
Here’s ours–inexplicably, from Terms of Endearment.
Emma Greenway: “I’ve finally found an answer to this hair nobody ever liked,” she said. “Radium is the answer.”*
There you are. Completely inexplicable, yet absolutely entrenched. Radium is the answer.
CONTEST RULES: Contest runs until midnight Friday, 9/8/2006. Big box of new, fab books absolutely gratis to winner.* Props to Penguin, which has launched an unprecedented era of fabulous reprints, and A Public Space, which has launched that rare bird: a good literary magazine. Some Litbloog Coop picks in there, too. You can enter anonymously, but if you win, you have to email us on the sly to claim your prize, since we are not psychic. Enter in the comments below, and, fellow litbloggers and bloggerati, spread the word–we NEED to get rid of these books!
* Oh, yes. We return to the big NY in late September. References required.
** Please don’t be from Europe. We mean, you can be, but try not to.
Filed under: Lit-ish |
“Better Off Dead” provides a surprising number of ear worms in my family. [Make of that what you will.] Chief among them is one line, now shorthand for correcting any misunderstanding. The French exchange student complains that Ricky has been putting his “testicles” all over her. Stunned pause. She glosses, “You know, like an octopus?” Cusack realizes she means “tentacles” and says, “N-T. Big difference.” So there you have it: “N-T. Big difference.”
Comment by cinetrix — 9/3/2006 @ 3:57 pm
You broke with TESTICLES. Omigod, it’s minutes to graveside bukkake.
Comment by altehaggen — 9/3/2006 @ 5:35 pm
From “Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life”, full of “ear worms”,…..under B:”It would be difficult to convince me that leaning has no effect on my bowling.” followed by a great drawing
or
“my name is Amy Rosenthal. It produces two anagrams, Hearty Salmon, Nasty Armhole. I cannot tell you how much I love that”
Comment by Brooke — 9/3/2006 @ 8:45 pm
Say Anything provides some great ones too ( I guess John Cusack means good quotes)
“”I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed… or buy anything sold or processed… or process anything sold, bought or processed… or repair anything sold, bought or processed. You know, as a career, I don’t want to do that.”
Comment by Brooke — 9/3/2006 @ 8:50 pm
Al Swearengen from Deadwood (TV — even more lame-ass!) to George Hearst: “Swellings and saggings of the tit I leave to the exactions of time.”
Comment by Karen — 9/5/2006 @ 12:01 pm
From “Zooey”
She was still stroking Bloomberg, still succoring him, forcibly, into the subtle and difficult world outside warm afghans.
“The subtle and difficult world outside warm afghans”
Sigh.
Comment by MM — 9/5/2006 @ 12:52 pm
Because you said whatever always pops into your head and ONLY because of that, I will share the relentless loop of
“Utah! Get me two!”
Nick Nolte to Keanu Reeves in Point Break– for god knows what reason that phrase lives on and on and on in this household.
Comment by Elizabeth — 9/5/2006 @ 1:03 pm
“Minutes to graveside bukkake”–isn’t that the name of Jared Leto’s band? Lindsay?
Comment by cinetrix — 9/5/2006 @ 2:29 pm
I’ll go with a book, my first Saul Bellow book back as a college freshman, Henderson the Rain King:
“What made me take this trip to Africa?”
It’s the first line of the book, and he takes sixty pages to answer it before he gets to Africa, where hi-jinx ensue.
Comment by LT — 9/5/2006 @ 2:35 pm
“Very early in my life it was too late.” Marguerite Duras, The Lover
Comment by Kate Dino — 9/5/2006 @ 5:29 pm
It’s not fun or anything, but what immediately and constantly pops into my head, double “eee”s banging, leaving me scrambling for a few minutes to remember what it’s from and what its context is, is “How can we sleep for grief?” from Arcadia.
Anonymous, but I can’t pass up a shot at a box of books.
Comment by _______ — 9/5/2006 @ 7:27 pm
It’s not super-fun or anything, but what immediately and constantly pops into my head, double “eeee”s banging, leaving me scrambling to remember what it’s from and what its context is, is “How can we sleep for grief?” from Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia.
Anonymous, but I can’t pass up even a slim shot at a that box of books.
Comment by _______ — 9/5/2006 @ 7:31 pm
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
Jane Austen, opening line of Pride and Prejudice
Comment by Josh Malbin — 9/5/2006 @ 10:46 pm
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
Jane Austen, P&P
Comment by Josh Malbin — 9/5/2006 @ 10:47 pm
“Rarely do pens go dry in restaurants.”
–N. Baker, The Mezzanine
Comment by Rob Travieso — 9/6/2006 @ 1:56 am
“Bil bol, wil wol.” A.A. Milne, Once On A Time
Comment by Kate Dino — 9/6/2006 @ 4:13 pm
“What about prom, Blane?” – Pretty In Pink
Comment by Jessica — 9/6/2006 @ 8:47 pm
One I had in my head yesterday that I just quoted for no reason out of nowhere is from The Sun Also Rises:
She had curves like the hull of a racing yacht, and you missed none of it with that wool jersey.
Comment by Eden — 9/7/2006 @ 10:54 am
Delurking because I can’t pass up a chance at books…So from Steel Magnolias, Shelby (Julia Roberts) suggests that Truvy (Dolly Parton) get a radio for her beauty salon. Truvy’s response:
“I had one once, but I threw it up against the wall when I couldn’t figure out where the batteries went. I know now I was suffering from pre-menstrual syndrome. ”
It’s one of the few movies I can quote along with.
Comment by Ameeta — 9/7/2006 @ 11:34 am
[...] Excuses, excuses…and BEST GIVEAWAY EVER [...]
Pingback by Old Hag — 9/7/2006 @ 1:11 pm
I’m way too late for this, but:
“I’m your huckleberry.”
- Val Kilmer in Tombstone
Comment by Lickona — 9/12/2006 @ 10:01 am
[...] “Utah! Get me two!” [...]
Pingback by Old Hag — 9/12/2006 @ 12:02 pm
when my mistress tells me that she is made of truth
I do believe her though I know she lies.
Or, better still:
Most of our faults are more pardonable than the means we use to hide them.
Comment by lukas w — 9/26/2006 @ 4:52 pm
lukas, it doesn’t scan. The line is: “When my love tells me she is made of truth”.
Comment by clerambault — 10/1/2006 @ 8:18 pm
[...] Old Hag is having another contest that involves giving away books. You know how I feel about free [...]
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