“I have just finished "All the Colorsof Darkness" 090209”

“Banks felt more alone and further away for having just talked to Sophia than he had before her call. But it was always like that - the telephone might bring you together for a few moments, but there's nothing like it for emphasising distance.”

“ANOTHER TWILIGHTAllow the point of the Croccodrillo its hazy cypress trees in profile Like a rough sketch for the Isle of the Dead, as seen from yellow stucco, his Villa Igea where Lawrence finished "Sons and Lovers," wild thyme scenting olive-grove grass, crime scenery come back to more than once.Again you're mirrored in lake shadow, a white sail flaking on its turquoise wavelets, keep awake by traffic noiseAlong the Gardesana...and you know that this beauty's unbearable as before even if seen from its opposite shore.”

“He had been working at the wall for too long. Why he bothered the Lord only knew. After all, it went nowhere and closed in nothing. His grandfather had been a master waller in the dale, but the skill had not been passed down the generations. He supposed he liked is for the same reason he liked fishing: mindless relaxation. In an age of totalitarian utilitarianism, Gristhorpe thought, a man needs as much purposeless activity as he can find.”

“The only difference was, you could play the music again and again; a life plays only once.”

“I am grateful for all those dark years, even though in retrospect they seem like a long, bitter prayer that was answered finally.”

“Now that I look back, it seems to me that in all that deep darkness a miracle was preparing. So I am right to remember it as a blessed time, and myself as waiting in confidence, even if I had no idea what i was waiting for.”