I'll have a serving of great olive oil, please, with a side dish of humor

"The first thing he did when he got home was attack the salmon. A hefty slice dressed with fresh lemon juice and a special olive oil given him by the person who made it. ('The virginity of this olive oil has been certified by a gynecologist,' said a little ticket that came with it.)"

(Andrea Camilleri, in The Paper Moon)

You're looking good

"He arrived a bit early for his appointment with Marshal Lagana. 'You're looking good,' said the marshal, eyeing him. Montalbano got worried. Often of late that statement didn't sound right to him. If someone tells you you're looking good, it means they were expecting you not to look so good. And why were they thinking that? Because you've reached an age where the worst could happen overnight. To take one example: Up to a certain point in life, if you slip and fall, you get right up, because nothing's happened to you. Then the moment comes when you slip and fall and you can't get up anymore, because you've broken your femur. What's happened? What's happened is you've crossed the invisible boundary between one age of life and the next."

(Andrea Camilleri, in The Paper Moon)

Discussing literature at our house

Actual conversation, verbatim, regarding The Echo Maker by Richard Powers:

Patrick: "You might like this book, actually."

Me: "I might like this book, the same one that's been boring you to tears?"

Patrick: "Yes, but he's got a bunch of stuff in there about brain damage and mental health that would probably be interesting to you. I'm not into that kind of thing; I'm looking for a story."

Me: "You're not into mental health?"

Patrick: "It's overrated."

Dubliners

"She respected her husband in the same way as she respected the General Post Office, as something large, secure and fixed; and though she knew the small number of his talents she appreciated his abstract value as a male."

(James Joyce, "A Mother," in Dubliners)

The Swing of Things

"What were people looking for? They all knew that this was the eye of the needle, that nothing lasted, the silence will win. The animal drive to survive and the human reason knowing it is futile - was that it? People knew it was pointless and dwelling on it changed nothing...The great stale void sucked everything into it whether you were aware of it or not. You could laugh or put a gun in your mouth. Or in somebody else's mouth. Or you could go to work, marry the woman, bring up the kids and keep it out of your mind."

(Sean O'Reilly, The Swing of Things)