Monday, July 13, 2009

Top 10 Things I Liked About Last Night in Montreal



I've got this weird habit of highlighting the advance reader copies of books that we pass around at The Bookstore. It's a way of communicating with the next reader: "I liked this, do you?" This book was Sue's new hardcover, so I didn't dare bring out the highlighter. Still, there were so many great lines and passages that I was afraid I would forget, so I started a list. I'm not even going to explain it, except to say, go read this book and then comment on my list when you're done. (I liked this, did you?)

Top 10 Things I Liked About Last Night in Montreal:

1. The ambiguity of Lillia's gestures on their last morning in Brooklyn (e.g., the kiss on his forehead)

2. The Icarus print on the wall of Cafe Matisse, and the shepherd who observed

3. The beauty of untranslatable words in lost languages (e.g., Dakota word for the specific loneliness of mothers whose children are absent)

4. Lillia's messages in the bibles: "wish to remain vanishing"

5. Michaela's tightrope walk

6. Eli: I want to be your language, your translator, your dictionary, your map

7. Montreal en francais= 101 ou 401.

8. "How deep in our genes is the longing for flight embedded?" ("limitless longing")

9. The pay phone in Arizona that rings at night

10. The last night in Montreal

1 comment:

  1. Margie, I always enjoy trying to figure out why you might have highlighted a particular passage when I read a book after you've gone wild with the yellow marker. Sometimes I agree/sometimes I don't, but I like the challenge. I just might go through my book and highlight these points before I pass the book on to my daughters! Sue

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