snippets

Also, here's some quotes I liked in the books I've been reading this week:

"The French are connoisseurs of sadness, they know all the kinds. This is why they have bidets."
-Margaret Atwood, from "The Blind Assassin"

"A norther has blown in. Un norte, which just makes me think of a tall Mexican in pointy boots and a cowboy hat, people like Mother's family. But a norther here in Texas is a mean wind from up north. From Chicago. And in Chicago it means a wind from across Canada. And up in Canada it's the North Pole wind, and who knows what people up in the North Pole call this. Probably summer."
Sandra Cisneros, from "Caramelo"