Some of my Favourite Sentences in Fiction Books
Have you ever whilst reading a book had to go back over lines and sentences just to relish the words over and over again? I do that almost all of the time. Whenever I read a sentence that resonates with me, it doesn't matter in what form or style it was presented so long it leaves me momentarily stunned in a good way; I leave that book feeling like I've not just only escaped reality but I've also achieved something valuable.
This is an inexhaustible list as I'll keep adding as I remember some of those memorable sentences and beautiful sometime lyrical prose from the books I've read and will update with new ones from time to time from whatever I'm reading at the time and will read in the future.
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He was as handsome as paint. His back was straight, his hands stayed deep in his pockets, and his steps were short and quick as if he had an urgent appointment at the end of the world. Anyone passing him on the way to the stream could have mistaken him for an emissary from the spirit world on special assignment to the land of mere mortals”
–Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, I Do Not Come To You By Chance
“Men and women are like their organs. A woman’s is mostly private, tucked away like a secret purse between her legs, with little to give away how big or deep it really is. A man’s on the other hand…swells with pride and longing and waves mightily about. But once inside a woman, it thumps a few times, loses its seed, and soon collapses…A woman endures…a woman gets stronger with age”
– T.O Echewa, I Saw The Sky Catch Fire
“She liked that he wore their relationship so boldly, like a brightly colored shirt. Sometimes she worried that she was too happy. She would sink into moodiness, and snap at Obinze, or be distant. And her joy would become a restless thing, flapping its wings inside her, as though looking for an opening to fly away.”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah
“The things my brother read shaped him; they became his visions. He believed in them. I have now come to know that what one believes often becomes permanent, and what becomes permanent can be indestructible”
– Chigozie Obioma, The Fishermen
“...my point is that the only authentic identity for the African is the tribe...I am Nigerian because a white man created Nigeria and gave me that identity. I am black because the white man constructed black to be as different as possible from his white. But I was Igbo before the white man came.”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun
The story was always told of a wealthy man who set before his guests a mound of foo-foo so high that those who sat on one side could not see what was happening on the other side… - Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart
“…looking up at him, thinking that you cannot kiss anyone in the Anne Frank House, and then thinking that Anne Frank, after all, kissed someone in the Anne Frank House, and that she would probably like nothing more than for her home to have become a place where the young irreparably broken sink into love.
- John Green, The Fault In Our Stars
“Hatred is a leech: The thing that sticks to a person's skin; that feeds off them and drains the sap out of one's spirit. It changes a person, and does not leave until it has sucked the last drop of peace from them.”
– Chigozie Obioma, The Fishermen
Mark was standing there with his mouth indeed open and an expression of bewilderment plastered on his face. He hardly noticed when Jesus walked over and put an arm around his shoulder. Sarayu seemed to have just evaporated. “Isn’t she great?” exclaimed Jesus, grinning at Mack.
Mack turned and faced him, shaking his head. “Am I going crazy? Am I supposed to believe that God is a big black woman with a questionable sense of humour?”
- WM. Paul Young, The Shack
“Ifemelu stood by the window while Aunty Uju sat at the table drinking orange juice and airing her grievances like jewels…Aunty Uju collected all her dissatisfactions in a silk purse, nursing them, polishing them, and then on the Saturday of Ifemelu’s visit, while Bartholomew was out and Dike upstairs, she would spill them out on the table, and turn each one this way and that, to catch the light.”
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah
When he had finished, he looked horrified, disgusted with her. As though he were the one who had had something taken from him. As though he were the one who had been violated. Suddenly Esi knew that the soldier had done something that even the other soldiers would find fault with. He looked at her like her body was his shame.
- Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing
Let me tell you a story. It’s about a war. This war is not the type fought with guns and machetes. It is a family type. A silent war. The type fought in the heart. At the moment this war may not concern everyone, but soon it will, for it is about to explode. It began long before I was formed. At birth I was named Udonwa - the peaceful child. Maybe they wanted me to bring about peace, the peace that will end the war, but who knows what goes on in the minds of adults, especially Mama and Papa. All I know is that I am the intelligent favourite daughter of my warring family. The one who according to Papa is most likely to become a doctor.
- Chinenye Emezie, Glass House
