I’ve been reading a lot lately, and I’ve been thinking of the oft said fact that the books are always better than the movies (or tv shows), which was proven to me once again as I started reading “Game of Thrones”. Here are just two quotes (of which there are many, many more) from books that probably had a tenth of their effect on me on screen:
“Everything Syrio Forel had ever taught her vanished in a heartbeat. In that instant of sudden terror, the only lesson Arya could remember was the one Jon Snow had given her, the very first. She stuck him with the pointy end, driving the blade upward with a wild, hysterical strength.” – from Game of Thrones
“Everything inside me came undone as I stared at the tiny porcelain face of the half-vampire, half-human baby. All the lines that held me to my life were sliced apart in swift cuts, like clipping the strings to a bunch of balloons. Everything that made me who I was – my love for the dead girl upstairs, my love for my father, my loyalty to my new pack, the love for my other brothers, my hatred for my enemies, my home, my name, my self – disconnected from me in that second – snip, snip, snip – and floated up into space. I was not left drifting. A new string held me where I was. Not one string, but a million. Not strings, but steel cables… all tying me to one thing – to the very center of the universe. I could see that now – how the universe swirled around this one point. I’d never seen the symmetry of the universe before, but now it was plain. The gravity of the earth no longer tied me to the place where I stood. It was the baby girl in the blond vampire’s arms that held me here now. Renesmee.
From upstairs, there was a new sound. The only sound that could touch me in this endless instant. A frantic pounding, a racing beat… A changing heart.” – from Breaking Dawn
I’ve also somewhat recently finished “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell”, which has not actually been adapted on-screen, but is rumored to be coming to BBC in a mini-series directed by Toby Haynes, who has worked on both “Doctor Who” and “Sherlock”. I would be shocked if they could pull it off properly. There were so many brilliant lines in this book that I started using the highlighting function of my Kindle for the first time ever. Here are a few:
“It has been remarked (by a lady infinitely cleverer than the present author) how kindly disposed the world in general feels to young people who either die or marry. Imagine then the interest that surrounded Miss Wintertowne! No young lady ever had such advantages before: for she died upon the Tuesday, was raised to life in the early hours of Wednesday morning, and was married upon the Thursday; which some people thought too much excitement for one week”.
“But from the first moment of his entering the house Strange found himself subject to that peculiarly uncomfortable Natural Law which states that whenever a person arrives at a place where he is not known, then wherever he stands he is sure to be in the way.”
“‘Such nonsense!’ declared Dr. Greysteel. ‘Whoever heard of cats doing anything useful!’ ‘Except for staring at one in a supercilious manner,’ said Strange. ‘That has a sort of moral usefulness, I suppose, in making one feel uncomfortable and encouraging sober reflection upon one’s imperfections.'”