I love pulling quotes from books I read. I've got notecards filled with scribbled musings and page numbers tracking lines that captivate me, whole paragraphs in books highlighted in Noodler's Atlantic Salmon ink, asides tapped by hand straight into the text of my Kindle (for iPad - my god, for a compulsive note-taker the application is genius).
Occasionally, I find a quote that is so thought-provoking, so introspective or so hilarious that I feel the need to share. Usually I read the passage to whomever is sitting or standing beside me at the time, or belt it out during a Skype chat, but seeing as how I have this handy-dandy blog at my disposal I may as well stick it here for posterity and distribution.
Right now I'm reading Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell, an offbeat mafioso novel that's a curious blend of goomba-speak, medical terminology and fake academia. Bazell's clever usage of footnotes for anything from historical references to hospital jargon clarification to pop-culture tidbits has been enough to quicken my nerdy pulse and keep me turning pages, but one bit of New York historical drama had me cracking up and howling with laughter.
In a passage detailing the rise of the mafia in New York and the activities that sustained them:
Eventually, though, Rudy Giuliani decided enough was enough and brought in Waste Management, a multinational corporation so scary it made the mafia look like little girls in those competitions JonBenet Ramsey used to enter. Waste Management's own crimes were severe enough to ultimately force changes in the SEC, among other things, but its appearance on the New York garbage scene inspired another round of funeral announcements for the mafia.
Oh, my god. That is hilarious.
Anyone care to guess where I spent the worst five years of my life and what company issued my paychecks up until my layoff?
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