The feeling in the house was the feeling of a rock when the fuse is burning in toward the dynamite.

“We have been his friends for years. When he was in need, we fed him. When he was cold, we clothed him.”
“When was that?” Pablo asked.
“Well, we would have, if he needed anything and we had it. That is the kind of friends we were to him. And now he crushes our friendship into the ground for a box of big candy to give to an old fat woman.”
“Candy is not good for people,” said Pablo.

“If thou wert a little more charitable with thy wine, these things would not happen.”

J’ai eu grand plaisir à lire Tortilla Flat de John Steinbeck: le plaisir de la langue, des sons, des mots et des phrases.

J’ai lu le livre trois fois. Une première pour le plaisir pur. La seconde un crayon à la main, en quête de citations et d’extraits, et avec un dictionnaire pour les mots que lors de ma première lecture j’avais préféré ignorer (cutting squid, quixotic, aeredales, drawn lashes, he broke mules…). Et une troisième pour vérifier. Avec autant de plaisir.