Dann Hurlbert

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To Kindle or Not To Kindle

For years I read with a highlighter in hand. It wasn’t because I was scouring textbooks in anticipation of an upcoming exam. Instead, I usually wanted to capture phrases and sentences from novels that were so beautifully written or inspirational that they needed to be isolated and cataloged somehow. So, I’d drag my lemon, lime, or passionfruit marker across a passage and then bend the corner of a page. Like a biologist collecting specimens, I knew that years down the road, I could flip through the shelved novel & easily revisit that author’s captivating prose. Some books were oozing with color. Others received only intermittent striping–and ultimately didn’t find a home on my “keeper” bookshelf.

Then, I tried a Kindle.

My highlighting hand wasn’t sure what to do with itself, but soon I discovered I was able to highlight and export all those beautifully written passages into a single csv file. Some authors, like Lindsay Faye, Amor Towles, or William Kent Krueger resulted in rows and rows of captivating sentences in a spreadsheet. Other authors (who shall remain nameless in this post), might only get one or two lines.

Like a treasure chest full of valuables, I’ve now compiled a binder with gorgeous descriptive language from authors whose work I admire. I now find myself reaching for my bookshelf to grab that binder when I run face-first into a writer’s block. Talk about inspiration! The bad news is that my trophy shelf, featuring preservation-worthy novels, has remained largely unchanged–though I’ve continued to read some definite keepers.

Something has been lost with the Kindle, but something has definitely been gained. I’ll slowly begin to share some of my favorite quotes

–dann

Louise Erdrich’s The Round House (3)

As I read my Kindle, I highlight intriguing or beautifully descriptive passages from the novel. Here are a few more from Erdrich:

Favorite Kindle Quotes featuring passage from Suddenly Rural Girl

“…my head seemed to balloon out and fill with bees.”

“Linda Wishkob was magnetically ugly.”

“Travis’ father had taken him into the city to see the Catholic president and his elegant first lady, who was wearing a suit the exact mute pink as the inside of a cat’s mouth.”

If you’ve not read any Louise Erdrich, you might consider The Round House. It feels real, hard, and a reminder of things we can do better. Check her out in goodreads.

And to learn more about my reading and writing, visit www.dannhurlbert.com!

Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London, Book 1 (5)

As I read my Kindle, I highlight intriguing or beautifully descriptive passages from the novel. Here are a few more from Aaronovitch:

“There was a ringing in my ears like the sensation you get when swimming near the bottom of the deep end.”

“The air was suddenly full of the scent of apple blossom and horse sweat, lemonade and old hose pipes, dusty roads and the sound of children laughing. All of it strong enough to make me take a step backward in surprise.”

“Her accent was cut glass.”

If you’ve not read any Ben Aaronovitch, I’d definitely recommend his Rivers of London Series! Clever, funny, magical, and mysterious YA and Contemporary Fiction novels. Check him out in goodreads.

And to learn more about my reading and writing, visit www.dannhurlbert.com!

Laura Taylor Namey’s The Library of Lost Things (5)

It’s a treat to be able to highlight quotes in a Kindle and have them saved in a csv file! Here are a few more from Namey:

“My stomach instantly fluttered. ‘You,’ he said, ‘are so pretty. But when we’re at Yellow Feather, and I’m staring at you from across the room, and you’re bent over some novel, you’re beautiful.’ A heated exhale was my only available response.”

“I peered at a blue-jean sky and a watercolor horizon.”

“I shut both my locker and my eyes, leaning against the metal door.”

Laura Taylor Namey is a talented best selling author. She’s got an impressive body of work. Check her out in goodreads.

And to learn more about my reading and writing, visit www.dannhurlbert.com or follow me on Facebook at Dann Hurlbert, Author

Great Lines from The Paragon Hotel

“…with the barkeep whose mustache makes him look so wonderfully tragic. Like he lost his one true soul mate years ago, and that soul mate was a devoted sheep dog.

“Harry was always dour, but I’d never seen his face turned the color of molding cheese previous.”

Bet he could charm the skin off a tomato in person.”

While The Paragon Hotel is not my favorite Faye novel, her gift for imaginative and delicious lines shows in this, too.If you’ve not read any Lindsay Faye, I’d recommend her work! Smart and beautifully descriptive mysteries. Check her out in goodreads.

Laura Taylor Namey’s The Library of Lost Things (4)

Here are a few more great quotes from Namey:

“And now he’s going to… His mouth pressed over mine.
So this…this was a kiss…”

“I bolted back out into the hall with the kind of thoughtless movement people make when they expect an empty space and no company. But I was wrong. There was company—the female kind—and I smacked right into her with an, “Unf. Sorry.” My bowed head crept upward from platform heels and bare legs to black knitwear that hung an inch too long for a sweater but a few too short for a dress.”

“Asher drives a black truck, not a white horse. Even the best guys aren’t storybook princes. They’re messed up and flawed.”

Laura Taylor Namey is a talented best selling author. She’s got an impressive body of work. Check her out in goodreads.

And to learn more about my reading and writing, visit www.dannhurlbert.com or follow me on Facebook at Dann Hurlbert, Author

Louise Erdrich’s The Round House (2)

Here are a few more great quotes from Erdrich:

“My father’s chin jutted, his hands tightened on the wheel. He had a profile that would look Indian on a movie poster, Roman on a coin.”

“…a life that had worn itself into bachelor grooves
and a house of womanless chaos.”

“She often exuded faint undertones of hay, dust, and the fragrance of horse, which once you smell it you always miss it.”

If you’ve not read any Louise Erdrich, you might consider The Round House. It feels real, hard, and a reminder of things we can do better. Check her out in goodreads.

And to learn more about my reading and writing, visit www.dannhurlbert.com!

Lindsay Faye’s The Fatal Flame (6)

Faye has so many great quotes, I’m sure I’ll return to her work, but here are my last from This Fatal Flame.

“I know you deserve someone who wants to carve your name
in every tree he ever encounters.”
LINDSAY FAYE, Fatal Flame

“I liked her and admired her the way I’d esteem a
newly discovered species of jungle predator…”
LINDSAY FAYE, Fatal Flame

“Sally Woods emitted a laugh like a cracked bell in a church tower—broken but pure as hymns.”
Lindsay Faye, The Gods of Gotham

If you’ve not read any Lindsay Faye, I’d recommend her work! Smart and beautifully descriptive mysteries. Check her out in goodreads.

And to learn more about my reading and writing, visit www.dannhurlbert.com or follow me on Facebook at Dann Hurlbert, Author

An unexpected visitor…

The door sliced open, and a stylish and inky cowboy boot pressed into the gravel drive. Moments later, a figure loomed taller than the car. A thick, gray mustache hung over the man’s lip like an inverted frown. Bushy eyebrows shaded gray and unreadable eyes. The man cleared his throat with a guttural scoop and spit the contents in the dry grass.

“You must be Dakota. Dakota Moore.” He raised one eyebrow as if it were a cap he was tipping politely. His voice was strong, crisp, and not unpleasant, like wind scattering dry leaves.

“I’m her mother, Elu,” Mom answered behind me, stepping into the evening with a boy behind her hip. “What can we do for you?”

Suddenly Rural Girl is the Christian YA Novel I’m close to wrapping up. Publishers are elusive, but they’re not fantasy. I’ll start my journey toward finding the right agent and publisher next, and would love to have you follow me and that process. For more quotes from SRG, other authors I’m reading, and updates on Suddenly Rural Girl, follow my blog at https://dannhurlbert.com/littletips or my Facebook page @Dann Hurlbert, Author. Thanks in advance!

Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London, Book 1 (4)

Here are a few more great quotes from Aaronovitch:

“Beverley came running onto the wharf as if there was a set of stairs hidden under the water. She was as dark and sleekly naked as a seal and you could have fired a shotgun past my ear and I still wouldn’t have looked away.”

“I need you to make sure your brain is engaged
before you put your mouth into gear.”

“I’ve got nothing against using cocoa butter, it’s just that you end up smelling like a giant Mars Bar for the rest of the day.”

If you’ve not read any Ben Aaronovitch, I’d definitely recommend his Rivers of London Series! Clever, funny, magical, and mysterious YA and Contemporary Fiction novels. Check him out in goodreads.

And to learn more about my reading and writing, visit www.dannhurlbert.com!

Lindsay Faye’s God’s of Gotham (7)

Here are a few more from Faye’s The God’s of Gotham:

“Footsteps sounded. One set neat and delicate and
the other smaller, like its echo.”

“‘I need a police man,’ she said. She didn’t. She needed a miracle.”

“That glance seared the air like a lightning bolt.”

If you’ve not read any Lindsay Faye, I’d recommend her work! Smart and beautifully descriptive mysteries. Check her out in goodreads.

And to learn more about my reading and writing, visit www.dannhurlbert.com!

Laura Taylor Namey’s The Library of Lost Things (3)

Here are a few more great quotes from Namey:

“Fake potted plants brushed against buttermilk-white walls. Rows of fluorescent light tubes jiggled and buzzed, shrinking me like a hamster in a too-bright cage.”

“He trapped my waist in the tight circle of his arms, angling his face so close to mine, I doubted even a sheet of paper could fit between us.”

“‘You’re downright extraordinary.’ Oh. A perfect, beautiful word. I wanted to wear it around my wrist, the first gift a boy had ever given me.”

Laura Taylor Namey is a talented best selling author. She’s got an impressive body of work. Check her out in goodreads.

And to learn more about my reading and writing, visit www.dannhurlbert.com or follow me on Facebook at Dann Hurlbert, Author

Louise Erdrich’s The Round House (1)

As I read my Kindle, I highlight intriguing or beautifully descriptive passages from the novel. Here are a few recent:

“The light caught the lines in his face and they deepened to cracks. He looked a thousand years old.”

“The moonlight illuminated the edges of things, made suggestions out of shadows.”

“I took great gulps of sunshine.”

If you’ve not read any Louise Erdrich, you might consider The Round House. It feels real, hard, and a reminder of things we can do better. Check her out in goodreads.