Outlander by Diana Gabaldon - 629 pages
Book Blurb:
The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon--when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach--an "outlander"--in a Scotland torn by war and raiding Highland clans in the year of Our Lord...1743.
Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into intrigues and dangers that may threaten her life...and shatter her heart. For here she meets James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, and becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire...and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.
My Review: 5 stars
While on a short term bout of bed rest with my first pregnancy, a friend dropped of this book and told me, “This was the best part about my bed rest when I was pregnant.” With that, I opened the book and was transported into a world of mystery, intrigue, Scottish clans, intense romance and some of the best writing ever. Diana’s gift with the written word is without doubt the best I’ve ever read. Characterization and scenery descriptions were perfect and I experienced the highlands during my bed rest. Her two main characters Claire and Jamie are still, almost 20 years since I first read this book, very much in my mind as well as their devotion and love for one another. Lots of historical detail as well as time travel. This book is quite a ride, one that will haunt you forever.
Quotes I liked:
“Oh, aye, Sassenach. I am your master . . . and you're mine. Seems I canna possess your soul without losing my own.”
“Not for the first time, I reflected that intimacy and romance are not synonymous.”
“There are things that I canna tell you, at least not yet. And I'll ask nothing of ye that ye canna give me. But what I would ask of ye---when you do tell me something, let it be the truth. And I'll promise ye the same. We have nothing now between us, save---respect, perhaps. And I think that respect has maybe room for secrets, but not for lies. Do ye agree?”
“Does it ever stop? The wanting you?" "Even when I've just left ye. I want you so much my chest feels tight and my fingers ache with wanting to touch ye again.”
My Review: 5 stars
While on a short term bout of bed rest with my first pregnancy, a friend dropped of this book and told me, “This was the best part about my bed rest when I was pregnant.” With that, I opened the book and was transported into a world of mystery, intrigue, Scottish clans, intense romance and some of the best writing ever. Diana’s gift with the written word is without doubt the best I’ve ever read. Characterization and scenery descriptions were perfect and I experienced the highlands during my bed rest. Her two main characters Claire and Jamie are still, almost 20 years since I first read this book, very much in my mind as well as their devotion and love for one another. Lots of historical detail as well as time travel. This book is quite a ride, one that will haunt you forever.
Quotes I liked:
“Oh, aye, Sassenach. I am your master . . . and you're mine. Seems I canna possess your soul without losing my own.”
“Not for the first time, I reflected that intimacy and romance are not synonymous.”
“There are things that I canna tell you, at least not yet. And I'll ask nothing of ye that ye canna give me. But what I would ask of ye---when you do tell me something, let it be the truth. And I'll promise ye the same. We have nothing now between us, save---respect, perhaps. And I think that respect has maybe room for secrets, but not for lies. Do ye agree?”
“Does it ever stop? The wanting you?" "Even when I've just left ye. I want you so much my chest feels tight and my fingers ache with wanting to touch ye again.”
-“I’ve never seen such a thing, Sassenach. Ye’d told me about the germs, aye, but I never in life imagined them so! I thought they might have wee teeth, and they don’t—but I never kent they would have such handsome, lashing wee tails, or swim about in such numbers.”
“Well, some microorganisms do,” I said, moving to peer into the eyepiece again myself. “These particular little beasts aren’t germs, though—they’re sperms.”
“They’re what?”
He looked quite blank.
“Sperms,” I said patiently. “Male reproductive cells. You know, what makes babies?”
I thought he might just possibly choke. His mouth opened, and a very pretty shade of rose suffused his countenance.
“Ye mean seed?” he croaked. “Spunk?”
“Well . . . yes.” Watching him narrowly, I poured steaming tea into a clean beaker and handed it to him as a restorative. He ignored it, though, his eyes fixed on the microscope as though something might spring out of the eyepiece at any moment and go writhing across the floor at our feet.
“Sperms,” he muttered to himself. “Sperms.” He shook his head vigorously, then turned to me, a frightful thought having just occurred to him.
“Whose are they?” he asked, his tone[…]”