Favorite Lines or Passages from "Autobiography"

[Old Mathew]

I'm still anxiously awaiting for my copy to arrive via steamer across the Atlantic -- and then by Pony Express the rest of the 2/3rds of the way across the country.

In the interim, I thought I'd start a thread for readers to post lines or passages from the book they find particularly arresting/beautiful/interesting/whatever.

So, post away! What sentences strike you?

 

[Uncleskinny]

I'm still anxiously awaiting for my copy to arrive via steamer across the Atlantic -- and then by Pony Express the rest of the 2/3rds of the way across the country.

In the interim, I thought I'd start a thread for readers to post lines or passages from the book they find particularly arresting/beautiful/interesting/whatever.

So, post away! What sentences strike you?

Not had the time to sit down and give it the attention it needs, but I've flicked through and read passages, and the thing that strikes me more than anything else, is that it's really, really well-written. It skips along at a jaunty pace, and is very entertaining. We should see a raft of reviews today and over the weekend, and I'm pretty sure they will nearly all be positive.

P.

 

[Orson Swells]

On Henry Kelly: “A little, pinched Irish madam… wearing a suit that looked better on the hanger.”

 

[gazman72]

the fact that he uses the phrase 'bearded clam'.

 

[Amy]

Referring to the court case, p.322-23:

"Marr, Rourke and Joyce have magically transformed into the Beverley Sisters, each chanting how that awful Morrissey had destroyed their lives - and just when they were all doing so well with their musical careers. It is an inferno of betrayal that I can bear no more, and I walk out of the court. What would they say at Salford Lads' Club if they caught the stench within these walls - Johhny Marr crying off for being held accountable for his own actions, and all Mancunian cameraderie shafted. [...] Now, like Joyce, he too speaks with the voice of a child begging forgiveness, and the hunchbacked Weeks now looks as if he has his catch. It takes courage to make yourself unpopular with your legal bully-boys for the sake of mere loyalty, and Johnny did not have that courage. A virtuoso of to-ing and fro-ing, you might swear that you are in the company of identical triplets as Johnny stands before you".

Ouch.

 

[Virgil Tracy]

I've never been so upset by a book, what's wrong with my name?

 

[sad veiled bride]

spoil on, people (as I'm waiting for my copy)...I love it

 

[Orson Swells]

"Birds abstain from song in post-war industrial Manchester..."

 

[Anonymous]

Referring to the court case, p.322-23:

"Marr, Rourke and Joyce have magically transformed into the Beverley Sisters, each chanting how that awful Morrissey had destroyed their lives - and just when they were all doing so well with their musical careers. It is an inferno of betrayal that I can bear no more, and I walk out of the court. What would they say at Salford Lads' Club if they caught the stench within these walls - Johhny Marr crying off for being held accountable for his own actions, and all Mancunian cameraderie shafted. [...] Now, like Joyce, he too speaks with the voice of a child begging forgiveness, and the hunchbacked Weeks now looks as if he has his catch. It takes courage to make yourself unpopular with your legal bully-boys for the sake of mere loyalty, and Johnny did not have that courage. A virtuoso of to-ing and fro-ing, you might swear that you are in the company of identical triplets as Johnny stands before you".

Ouch.

Perfect. Exactly how I feel about professional nice guy Johnny Marr.

 

[realitybites]

Moz eloquently and thoroughly reveals why he became a singer and not a guitarist or a pianist. He first fell in love with the words on the page and not the music via Record Song Book... "an expensive magazine that prints the lyrics of famous or bubbling songs of the month, and I practice with invented melodies on the songs that I haven't heard. It is only the singing voice, I decide, that tells us how things became how they are..."

 

[Mozmanc]

oh there are too many quips and funny passages to remember upon first reading

I was shocked when moz admitted he was wrong lolz regarding the tracklist for TQID

Johnny's response to this idea that 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out' shouldn't feature on the album was just perfect, again eloquently described by morrissey who soon sees the merit of such a great song

to think these lads were in their early 20's at this point is mindblowing

 

[Tibby]

About his relationship with Jake

"For the first time in my life the eternal I becomes we "

so lovely

 

[realitybites]

"The written word is an attempt at completeness when there is no one impatiently awaiting you in a dimly lit bedroom – awaiting your tales of the day, as the healing hands of someone who knew turn to you and touch you, and you lose yourself so completely in another that you are momentarily delivered from yourself. Whispering across the pillow comes a kind voice that might tell you how to get out of certain difficulties, from someone who might mercifully detach you from your complications. When there is no matching of lives, and we live on a strict diet of the self, the most intimate bond can be with the words that we write."

Wow, how beautifully stated. And true.

 

[Anonymous]

The quotes I have read here so far could as well have been written by quite an old lady.

 

[zepfan1]

"The written word is an attempt at completeness when there is no one impatiently awaiting you in a dimly lit bedroom – awaiting your tales of the day, as the healing hands of someone who knew turn to you and touch you, and you lose yourself so completely in another that you are momentarily delivered from yourself. Whispering across the pillow comes a kind voice that might tell you how to get out of certain difficulties, from someone who might mercifully detach you from your complications. When there is no matching of lives, and we live on a strict diet of the self, the most intimate bond can be with the words that we write."

Wow, how beautifully stated. And true.

I agree - @and I also like your bottom quote

 

[realitybites]

I agree - @and I also like your bottom quote

Thanks!

Is your user name in reference to Led Zeppelin? if so, what is your fave track(s)?

 

[Deleted member 1074]

"Miss Redmond is aging, and will never marry, and will die smelling of attics."

 

[CrystalGeezer]

"The written word is an attempt at completeness when there is no one impatiently awaiting you in a dimly lit bedroom – awaiting your tales of the day, as the healing hands of someone who knew turn to you and touch you, and you lose yourself so completely in another that you are momentarily delivered from yourself. Whispering across the pillow comes a kind voice that might tell you how to get out of certain difficulties, from someone who might mercifully detach you from your complications. When there is no matching of lives, and we live on a strict diet of the self, the most intimate bond can be with the words that we write."

Soooooo, where do I go to apply for this job?

 

[realitybites]

Soooooo, where do I go to apply for this job?

Try hell.

 

[CrystalGeezer]

Try hell.