Friday's Finest

a meme hosted by Justine @ a bookful of thoughts

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from Beauty Queens
by Libba Bray

     Three black shirts moved through, guns drawn. Miss Ohio used her fingers to count down.
     “Now!” she shouted. The arrows zipped down through the growth, clipping fronds whsk-whsk-whsk. One found its mark in a guard’s thigh. His AK-47 went off as he fell to the ground, grabbing at the thin stake of wood.
     “Reload!” Miss Ohio shouted, ducking.
     A second hail of arrows arched out in a flawless display. It was like the opening number of the Miss Teen Dream Pageant with every girl knowing her steps, every girl in perfect sync with her sisters. Miss Arkansas launched her coconut at a guard’s head and he went down hard.
     Miss Ohio dropped the ground. “Take the guns,” she barked. The other girls scrambled down past the unconscious guard and the other two men who had taken arrows in the legs and butt.
    “You bitches!” a guard snarled at Miss Montana.
     “Excuse me? You try to kill us, we defend ourselves, and we get called bitches? So typical!” Miss New Mexico head-butted the man, knocking him out with her tray.
     “Thanks,” Miss Montana said.
     “Don’t mention it.”

There’s so much I love about this book, and that passage was just a couple. The parallel between the guerilla warfare and the pageant, the totally spot-on note about being called bitches, the fact that Miss New Mexico still has an airline tray embedded in her forehead… You have read this book already, right?

Friday's Finest

a meme hosted by Justine @ A Bookful of Thoughts

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from Luminous
by Dawn Metcalf

"Consuela..." he said aloud, and couldn't seem to find more words to say. He brushed the hair from her face and placed a kiss at her hairline. She buried deeper into his chest and the edge of his lips caught the side of her cheek. He placed another kiss there. Her tears stopped. The moment caught like a breath. She was afraid to guess. Afraid to move.
// Please. //
One arm unwound, letting the light and him in.
(p. 156 - 157)

...And thus follows an awesome, awesome kiss. Like, not just steamy, but romantic. And so is the guy. (His name is V, by the way. I think it's a dreamy name. Hee.)

Friday's Finest

a meme hosted by Justine @ A Bookful of Thoughts

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A second FF featuring Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John, because O Dieu I love this book. And this excerpt is fabulous in showcasing all the different characters, in Piper's oh-so-awesome voice.

Piper's Manifesto:

Problem: Josh is an asshole. Solution: Suck it up as long as the band makes money.
Problem: Tash is bad for morale. Solution: (gulp) Stand up to her.
Problem: It's not entirely clear that Will even has a pulse. Solution: That's a problem?
Problem: Kallie can't play guitar for crap. Solution: Get Finn to help her--he owes you.
Problem: Ed doesn't think I know what I'm doing. Solution: Prove him wrong.
Problem: Dumb can't do soft [rock]. Solution: Make them hard [rock] again.
Problem: Mom and Dad suck. Solution: Wait until next summer, then join a commune.
(p. 142-143)

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Friday's Finest

a meme hosted by Justine @ A Bookful of Thoughts

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Today's quote comes from Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John; I love this book so much that everything in it is quotable to me. Fingers crossed you agree. ;)

I didn't get out of suspension until 2:23. The principal wanted to read us the riot act one last time, and slowed down when he noticed how agitated I was. In an attempt to ram his point home with the utmost force, he even started lecturing directly to my hair [it's dyed pink]. I let it go on for almost a minute, then began running my hands through my hair seductively, like an actress in a shampoo commercial. Almost immediately he turned bright red, and seconds later we'd been excused.
(p. 262)

It's that seductively that makes me laugh every time... oh how I adore this book. <3 I'm thinking I'll have to do an entire series of Fridays' Finest on Five Flavors of Dumb just to be able to communicate its awesomeness in quotes.

Friday's Finest

a meme hosted by Justine at A Bookful of Thoughts

Rules:
~Post a quote that really stuck to you after reading it in a book.
~Make sure it isn't a spoiler!
~If you'd like, expand on what you think it means and why you chose it.


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My favourite quotes are usually the quirky or funny ones, and this time's no different:

from Wolves, Boys & Other Things That Might Kill Me

by Kristen Chandler

I get out of the car, and Virgil walks over and takes a picture of me telling my dad I don't need a coat. "I love family portraits," he says. (139)

I love this. How the dialogue is presented matches how the protag, KJ, talks and thinks, and this little snippet shows several things about Virgil, too: a) he's got a sense of humour; b) he's a photographer; c) he's reasonably close to KJ and her father.

Think you'll be picking this up?