This week’s Teaser Tuesday!

“My darling Rosamunde, I don’t wish you to remain in suspense during the reading of this letter. This is a proposal of marriage.” (A Prophet Without Honor, Joseph Wurtenbaugh and Manoj Vijayan)

[…]
“My demented sister, This morning our mother presented me with news so horrifying my hair literally stood on end. She informed me that Heinrich Haydenreich had proposed marriage to you, and that you had accepted.” (Ibid)

The Confessions is one continued and coherent prayer, a profound profession of faith, and a plea for more, ever more wisdom, ever more love. It is artistic in its whole conception, in its parts and their arrangement down to the merest sentence. It is closer to the Gothic cathedrals that would grace Europe eight hundred years later than to anything that you or I might write about ourselves and our lives. (The Confessions, trans. Anthony Esolen. From the introduction.)

The house of my soul is too cramped for you to enter: make it more spacious. It is falling to ruin; repair it. Much inside it offends your sight; I know it and I confess it. (Ibid)

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday is books we’ve avoided because of the hype, but I think falling so hard and so fast for Harry Potter cured me of that back in 2007. Instead, I’m going to share my top ten favorite book teases from the last year, celebrating two years of perfect-attendance Tuesday Teases. If you like teases, check out last year’s as well!

“You mean you ain’t going to drink no more?”
“I mean I’m taking it one day at a time.”
“But if you don’t drink no more, then how come you got beer in your refrigerator?” “Hard to say goodbye.”
“And you got a lot of whiskey under your kitchen sink too.”
“What are you, the Southern Baptist Convention?” (Kinfolk, Sean Dietrich)

McCoy shook his head. “Unbelievable. An emotional Vulcan who’s having problems with telepathic humans. Did we cross over into an alternate universe again? (Star Trek: The Higher Frontier, Christopher L Bennett)

In the end, Lizzie chose insult by way of Shakespeare. It felt more dignified. “I do wish that we could become better strangers,” she said coldly. It took Collins a moment to register her jab, and his faux polite expression darkened into open resentment (Pride and Premeditation)

“Are you busy with something?” said the Major. “You can always call another time, when your paperwork is finished.”
“No, no, it’s just a final deal book I have to read—make sure all the decimal points are in the right place this time,” said Roger. “I can read and chat at the same time.”
“How efficient,” said the Major. “Perhaps I should try a few chapters of War and Peace while we talk?” (The Major’s Last Stand)

<Jennifer to Beth> Aren’t you missing the point? Clark Kent doesn’t want to be famous. He doesn’t want people to look at him. If they really look at him, they’d see that he’s just Superman with glasses. Plus, he needs to be someplace like a newsroom, where he’s the first to hear big news. He can’t afford to read “Joker attacks moon” the next day in the newspaper.
<Beth to Jennifer> You make an excellent point. Especially for someone who doesn’t know that Superman never fights the Joker. (Attachments, Rainbow Rowell)

“This is interesting, meeting you here,” said Madred.
Placing his spoon next to his bowl, Garak clasped his hands on the table. “It was my understanding that being forced into exile meant never having to see people I don’t like. Leave it to Central Command to fail at something so simple.” Star Trek: Pliable Truths

He winked at her when he handed over the reins. “The English breed fast horses and beautiful girls, my lady. I enjoyed sampling one of the two.” Millicent mounted quickly and looked over her shoulder at the bold young Welshman. “It is well you chose the one you could handle, my lord,” she said, wheeling the horse around and digging her heels into its flanks. (The Broken Realm)

Boredom, I knew, was a dangerous thing. For some children, it led to experiments with sex, and drugs, and alcohol, and lighting one another on fire, sometimes with the alcohol. For some of us, the never-ending rural ennui led to destructive habits with literature. (The World’s Largest Man, Harrison Scott Key)

If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to our work. The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it while the conditions are still unfavourable. Favourable conditions never come. (The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis)

Will you come forward and tell us your name?’ she says.
‘Rarrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhharrrrrrr!’ says Steve, even louder than
before.
‘Please be gentle on the medium,’ says Penny.
‘Hoooooooaaaaaarrrrrrgghhhhh,’ says Steve, louder still, his neck jutting out and his head moving from side to side, like a riled T-Rex in an old Hollywood film.
Will Storr vs the Supernatural