Page of the Day: Days 45 through 51
Welcome back to Page of the Day! For 100 Days, we are sharing 100 pages of 100 books – page by page, in order on our Instagram page. With each different day, a different book is featured. From advanced reader copies of upcoming releases to new paperback editions, you’ll be able to catch a glimpse – and read a short passage – from books perfect for summer reading. Here are those short passages from Days 45 through 51:
Day 45: Other People’s Love Affairs by D. Wystan Owen
“Tony’s heart began to feel low. Sometimes, without any warning at all, the image of her would appear in his dreams. He had never been told how it was that she’d died, but in his vision she was drowned in the sea. He knew from pictures that she had fair hair and eyes, and it was that hair, suspended like gauze in the water, that always woke him with a shuddering start.”
Day 46: The Floating World by C. Morgan Babst
“Suddenly, she remembered a dream she’d had the night before, while she was blacked out in the middle of the Dobies’ mattress: a rope hung taut in a column of water, air bubbles clinging to the twisted fibers. Just a slip of a dream.”
Day 47: The Price of the Haircut by Brock Clarke
“ ‘You know what I think?’ Mrs. Tooley asked, and then, before I could say whether or not I wanted to know, she said, ‘I think your mother is right. I think you probably sound just like your father.’
‘I don’t,’ I said.
‘I bet you do,’ Mrs. Tooley said. She took her pencil out of the crook of her ear and jabbed it in my direction. ‘Do you want to sound like your father?’
‘That’s the thing,’ I said. ‘I don’t know how not to.’ ”
Day 48: Shadow of the Lions by Christopher Swann
“It was the first time I had bought jewelry for a girl, and I was nervous about how she would react. On Christmas Day, I woke up in my house in Asheville, wondering if Abby had opened my present yet. Downstairs, I found a wrapped present from Abby under the tree. She had mailed it to my house, and my mother had kept it hidden with the other Christmas presents. I opened it and pulled out a CD with nothing on it except, written in black Sharpie, To Matthias. Christmas 2000. Love, Abby. When I put the CD into the stereo, there were a few seconds of silence, followed by some indeterminate fumbling noises, and then Abby’s voice came out of the speakers. ‘Okay, this is Bach’s Cello Suite number one, in G Major,’ ” she said.
Day 49: Tasting the Past by Kevin Begos
“Whether you’re writing about finches, tortoises, earthworms, or any other creature, it always makes sense to see what Charles Darwin had to say on the subject. It turns out that he was fascinated by grapes, too. Though grapevines are often presented to wine lovers as a kind of viticultural pinup – the fruit arranged in perfect, bountiful rows – the great British scientist found a curiously complex plant.”
Day 50: The Last Days of Cafe Leila by Donia Bijan
“ ‘He wanted me to help out, but I didn’t know how to cook. So I ripped open the lining and showed him the pages from his mother’s notebook – everything written in her tiny, stingy print. He wept for a long time, so much left behind. My eyes stayed dry. I was glad to be away from his family. His mother’s hand in the kitchen was delicious, but her tongue was a sword.’ ”
Day 51: Our Short History by Lauren Grodstein
“ ‘I didn’t know–’ your father stuttered. ‘I just. I didn’t know. I didn’t know I had a son. You never–’
‘How did you not know?’
‘You never told me!’
‘I told you I was pregnant.’
‘But then the last time we talked . . . you said you would never keep–’
‘You told me that you hated children. That you never ever wanted a child. You had a preemptive vasectomy, Dave. So excuse me for thinking you wouldn’t want to be a big part of this child’s life.’ ”
