Vanity was the beginning and end of Sir Walter Elliot’s character: vanity of person and of situation. He had been remarkably handsome in his youth, and at fifty-four was still a very fine man. . . . -Persuasion by Jane Austen

…in addition to being fun, smart, and quick-witted—in a feisty way that always kept me honest—she’s quite easy to look at, with never-ending legs, toned arms, curly brown hair, and eyes that tease and smile and glint all at the same time. T

Sterling Mulkern was a florid, beefy man, the kind who carried weight like a weapon, not a liability. He had a shock of stiff white hair you could land a DC-10 on and a handshake that stopped just short of inducing paralysis. A Drink Before

The smoke, black as his soul, is snatched away by the sea-breeze as soon as it reaches for air. Anuradha wafts the falling soot away from her face and turns her head from the pyre. She sees one of the overseers standing on the seawall in th

Kinky tousled curls, only a minimum of makeup, large brown eyes behind round wire-rimmed glasses. There was a world of character in that face, more than enough to make her fascinating-looking instead of just attractive. The Face of Deceptio

As Vera opened the door, Valentino skittered noisily over the imitation marble floor to meet her, sounding as if a necklace had burst with its beads rolling in every direction. No matter how polished the surroundings, you could never displa

Now, beneath the praying child, there was something new, pointing upward: a row of hunting rifles, six in total, butts nestled in the orange shag rug.-Just Another Family By Lori Ostlund

A cloud stretches across the sky. Bright white like hotel sheets. Unbroken, so I can’t see anything below. The airport. Or where the sea turns into the Lagan. Farmhouses and their neat green fields. Wild patches of forest. The navy ikea war

… Her skin glistening in the neon light coming from the paved court through the slits in the blind, her soot-black lashes matted, her grave gray eyes more vacant than ever. -Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

When the old king saw this he foamed with rage, stared wildly about, flung himself on the ground and died. -The Crimson Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

For a long time he said nothing. He kept as still as a stone. He hardly seemed to be breathing at all. When at last he began to speak, it sounded almost as though he were singing, sadly, in a dream. -The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lof

Peter was a gentle, red-haired bear of a man. Standing at six-four in his socks, he moved everywhere with a slight and nautical sway, but even though he was broad across the chest there was something centered and reassuring about him, like

The base camp lay at the south-eastern edge of the Taunus, near Kronberg, just a few kilometres from the place of first contact. It had never been officially designated or planned, but instead gradually took form out of tents, containers an