## Review Date #note/sourcereview/book | #source/book📚/fiction ## What is the story Katie Kon _tent_ is a twenty something who recently moved to NYC and in 1938 she has a whirlwind year. The story starts New Years Eve when she meets Tinker Gray, a banker, who introduces her to the world of the wealthy. The narrative moves the story with sharp prose and rapid action. The book ends on the last day of 1938. So much has happened, and Katey has been launched! ## What else do I wonder about? How does the writing style and the story interact to make the story even more cohesive? It reminds me of [[The Vaster Wilds]], which has a very different writing style, one that matches the plot, time, and place. ## Action I am motivated to work writing like a good piece of wood. I need to match the underlying grain, size, knots, and edge to the purpose. Working _with_ the nature of something creates more cohesive and unified outcomes. ## When do I want to stumble across this? #on/transformative | #on/writing ## Source: Towles, A. (2012). _Rules of civility_. Penguin Books. ## References, Quotes, Ideas Preface: Page 1: > "In the 1950's, America had picked the globe up by the heels and shaken the change from its pockets." Page 31: > "Like all the rest of the world's warring tribes, these two made their way to New York City and settled side by side. They dwelt in the same neighborhoods and the same narrow cafés, where they could keep a watchful eye on one another. In such close proximity, time slowly strengthened their sentiments while diluting their resolve." Page 35: >"—Who's the young man? Yours or your friend's? —A little bit of both, I guess. Chernoff smiled. He had two gold teeth. —That doesn't work for long, my slender one. —Says you. —Says the sun, the moon and the stars." Page 117: >"But if you know anything about butterflies, you know that the two sides of their wings can be dramatically different. If the top is an opalescent blue, the underside can be a brownish gray with ocher spots. The sharp contrast provides butterflies with a material evolutionary advantage, because when their wings are open they can attract a mate, while when their wings are closed they can disappear on the trunk of a tree." Page 129: >"She had changed into high heels and a tangerine-colored blouse that clashed with all her best intentions. She was gripping her purse in both hands. Here it comes, I thought." Page 218: >"For what was civilization but the intellect's ascendancy out of the doldrums of necessity (shelter, sustenance and survival) into the ether of the finely superfluous (poetry, handbags and haute cuisine)? So removed from daily life was the whole experience that when all was rotten to the core, a fine dinner could revive the spirits. If and when I had twenty dollars left to my name, I was going to invest it right here." Page 222: >"At one in the morning, it loomed from the shadows like an elegant beast come to the water's edge to drink." >"So with the smell of smoke in the air and the rumble of thunder in the distance, my eyelids rose and fell like the bow of a boat on its mooring." Page 302: >"He always looked his best, I thought to myself, when circumstances called for him to be a boy and a man at the same time."