When you see the words “delicious” and “polenta” in close proximity, you know the phrases “plenty of cheese” or “lashings of butter” can’t be far away

‘When you see the words “delicious” and “polenta” in close proximity, you know the phrases “plenty of cheese” or “lashings of butter” can’t be far away.’ Niki Segnit, author of Lateral Cooking, nails the simultaneous appeal and bemused distaste for polenta in one neat phrase. At its best, polenta is indescribably comforting, rich and naturally sweet, soft and luscious. At its worst, it’s lumpy, bland, claggy and, quite frankly, hard work. As so often is the case (and I think we can agree, I am entirely unbiased in this whole pursuit), the difference is butter.

O. Potts, Butter (2022), loc. 2,561

It is less that I have buttered bread to accompany a bowl of soup, and more that my soup is the accompaniment to the buttered bread

And then there’s soup. It is less that I have buttered bread to accompany a bowl of soup, and more that my soup is the accompaniment to the buttered bread. The simpler the soup the better, but it must be thick, and smooth, and terribly hot. There is nothing sadder than a lukewarm soup. The bread should be hearty (read: not white, and doorstep in size), the butter thick and opaque, and dunked with enough confidence that the hot soup is just starting to melt that slab of butter before wham you’ve eaten the whole thing.

O. Potts, Butter (2022), loc. 713

This was very good advice but she still thought that living in a major city was key

If you want to move to the city, you can, Miss Grehan said. And studying poetry at university is a wonderful thing to do. But more important is to read poetry, and write poetry, every day. It doesn’t have to be for long. If just once a day people read a poem instead of picking up their phone, I guarantee you the world would be a better place. When she had gone Elaine said that this was very good advice but she still thought that living in a major city was key.

P. Murray, The bee sting (2023), Loc. 800

This is not a time to speak, she says, but a time to keep silent

Carole takes a long drink of tea then stares into space. I cannot tell you how many people have fallen silent since Jim has been arrested, it is as though I am guilty somehow, why are we being made to feel guilty when it is an evil that has been done to us? Eilish finds herself watching the clock, she stands up, shaking her head. This is not a time to speak, she says, but a time to keep silent, everybody has grown afraid, our husbands have been taken from us and placed into this silence, there are times at night when I hear this silence as loud as death but it is not death just arbitrary arrest and detention, you must keep telling this to yourself over and over.

P. Lynch, Prophet song (2023), Loc. 589

I have always found a good sherry sufficient for my needs, but I dare say these American beverages are not unpalatable

‘Ah, yes; cocktails. A drink imported, I am told, from America. The custom of drinking cocktails at all hours of the day is on the increase, undoubtedly, amongst certain sections of society. I have always found a good sherry sufficient for my needs, but I dare say these American beverages are not unpalatable.

N. Blake (C. Day-Lewis), Thou shell of death (1936), 5

What is the point of investing in a process of learning about the world if there is almost no time to put that information to use?

Once I knew this stage was coming, interacting with these animals, especially the friendly ones, became poignant. Their time was so short. This discovery also made the puzzle of their large brains even more acute. What is the point of building a large nervous system if your life is over in a year or two? The machinery of intelligence is expensive, both to build and to run. The usefulness of learning, which large brains make possible, seems dependent on lifespan. What is the point of investing in a process of learning about the world if there is almost no time to put that information to use?

P. Godfrey-Smith, Other minds: the octopus and the evolution of intelligent life (2017), loc. 1,986

Shells were the mollusks’ response to what looks like an abrupt change in the lives of animals: the invention of predation. There are various ways of dealing with the fact that you are suddenly surrounded by creatures who can see and would like to eat you, but one way, a molluscan specialty, is to grow a hard shell and live within or beneath it.

P. Godfrey-Smith, Other minds: the octopus and the evolution of intelligent life (2017), loc. 550