“I must confess that I did not witness the ship strike the rocks or the crew tie up the captain.” David Grann, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder.

“It was one of those Tuesday afternoons in summer when you wonder if the earth has stopped revolving.” Benjamin Black (John Banville), The Black-Eyed Blonde: A Phillip Marlowe Novel.

“I found Gotham City one night when I was about seven years old.” Maya Phillips, Nerd: Adventures in Fandom from the Universe to the Multiverse.

“It started with a phone call, deceptively simple and easy to ignore.” Megan Miranda, All the Missing Girls.

“History books will teach that the Supreme Court eliminated the constitutional right to abortion on June 24, 2022.” Stephen Vladeck, The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic.

“Two young women climbed a narrow set of stairs toward the sound of laughter and music, Florence Darrow in front, dragged her hand along the blood-red walls.” Alexandra Andrews, Who Is Maud Dixon?

“The number lay there, brazen, taunting me from the tatty piece of paper that sat neatly on the ancient oak table: zero.” Antonio Padilla, Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them: A Cosmic Quest from Zero to Infinity.

“’The thoughts of all present tonight,’ said Mr. Birley, ‘will naturally turn first to the great personal loss—the very personal loss—so recently suffered by the firm, by the legal profession and, if I may venture to say so without contradiction, by the British public.’” Michael Gilbert, Smallbone Deceased.

“On 20 July 1794 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe heaved himself into the saddle and rode from his house in the centre of Weimar to Jena, where he planned to attend a botanical meeting of the recently funded national historical society.” Andrea Wulf, Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of Self.

“O Mighty Caliph and Commander of the Faithful, I am humbled to be in the splendor of your presence; a man can hope for no greater blessing as long as he lives.” Ted Chiang, Exhalation.

“It’s hard to say exactly when PG&E Corporation began its fall.” Katherine Blunt, California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—and What It Means for America’s Power Grid.

“Everyone who knew Benjamin Ovich, particularly those of us who knew him well enough to call him Benji, probably knew deep down that he was never the sort of person who would get a happy ending.” Fredrik Backman, The Winners.

“You learn to live with shame.” José Carlos Agüero, The Surrendered: Reflections by a Son of Shining Path.

“The Jebel es Zubleh is a mountain fifty miles and more in length, and so narrow that its tracery on the map gives it a likeness to a caterpillar crawling from the south to the north.” Lew Wallace, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.