quote:Two tires fly. Two wail. A bamboo grove, all chopped down From it, warring songs
...is the best that Corporal Bobby Shaftoe can do on short notice-- he's standing on the running board, gripping his Springfield with one hand and the rear view mirror with the other, so counting the syllables is out of the question.
...from Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. How can you not love a book that starts with a US Marine spontaneously composing haiku from the running board of a truck careening through Shanghai, 28 Nov. 1941?
[ October 06, 2003, 04:44 PM: Message edited by: T. Analog Kid ]
Posts: 2112 | Registered: Sep 1999
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Ok, I found my book. Here's the whole opening paragraph. (this is the best opening I have ever read)
"I will weep no more for the lost, asleep in their watery graves. I have no more tears for my youth in the temple of the brindled ox. Life is strong in me and I will not grieve for what was or might have been. Mine is a different path and I must follow where it leads." -Taliesin, by Stephen R. Lawhead
Posts: 4174 | Registered: Sep 2003
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[edit: I like that Eruve. I've never read anything by Lawhead, I'll have to check him out.] "Bobby Shaftoe, you have a boo-boo."--Douglas Macarthur Shaftoe. "Watch out! The sniping had begun."--at a dinner party. ***Warning:Minor spoilers for Cryptonomicon--probably safe though***
"At least I don't write obscure academic articles about beards to break up with my boyfriend." "Who is this Woe-to-hice all the Brits kept referring to, wondered Waterhouse?" "Why is Julietta suddenly getting so googly-eyed at the thought of a baby? Snap out of it, woman, there's a war on!" thought Bobby Shaftoe. "Their bodies merged as effortlessly as two raindrops running down a window." "Her uncle the smuggler saved the day by literally pulling a diamond ring out of his a$$." "As Admiral Yamamoto, in flames, shot through the jungle at hundreds of miles per hour strapped to his flight chair, he considered that perhaps attacking Pearl Harbor was not such a great idea."
end spoilers******* Apologies if the quotes aren't perfect, that's from memory as I can't find my copy. We may argue about some things TaK, but we can agree that Cryptonomicon is one of the best books published in the last 25 years. Stephanson combines the sublime, the moving and the ridiculous in unique ways. I can't say enough good things about it.
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