Outlander (Outlander, #1) in Overdue Podcast

Dec 31, 2019 The Lady Anna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-and-own-physical-book, fiction, my-best-smellers, overdue-podcast-episode, scifi, spicy

Well written. Moments of literate beauty. Don't know if I would have picked it up if I didn't watch the show first, but I will definitely be reading more. Not usually an historical romance person, but this has me fascinated about the time period.

p.148 - He began with a simple song, something in Gaelic with a strong rhyming chime to the lines, accompanied by the merest touch of his harp strings, so that each plucked string seemed by its vibration to carry the echo of the words from one line to th Well written. Moments of literate beauty. Don't know if I would have picked it up if I didn't watch the show first, but I will definitely be reading more. Not usually an historical romance person, but this has me fascinated about the time period.

p.148 - He began with a simple song, something in Gaelic with a strong rhyming chime to the lines, accompanied by the merest touch of his harp strings, so that each plucked string seemed by its vibration to carry the echo of the words from one line to the next. The voice was also deceptively simple. You thought at first there was nothing much to it - pleasant, but without much strength. And then you found that the sound went straight through you, and each syllable was crystal clear, whether you understood it or not, echoing poignantly inside your head.

p.319 - "Plovers have the souls of young mothers dead in childbirth," he said. He glanced aside at me, shyly. "The story goes that they cry and run about their nests because they canna believe the young are safe hatched; they're mourning always for the lost one - or looking for a child left behind."

p.435 - The sun was setting. The last rays of light shone through a blue glass flagon that stood on the table, streaking the wall with a shaft of brilliant lapis. I felt as fragile and as brilliant as the glass, as though I would shatter with a touch, and fall in glittering fragments to the floor. If I had meant to spare either Jamie's emotions or my own, it seemed I was very much too late.

p.436 - One ring for each hand, one silver, one gold. And the thin metal suddenly heavy as the bonds of matrimony, as though the rings were tiny shackles, fastening me spread-eagled to the bed, stretched forever between two poles, held in bondage like Prometheus on his lonely rock, divided love the vulture that tore at my heart.

p.546 - "And when I stopped shaking, Sassenach," he said quietly, "I thanked God for the pain, because it meant I was still alive."

p.548 - Still without speaking much, we moved out of the burn and found a comfortable place near the edge of a clearing in the forest. Hills rose in undulant mounds all around us, but Jamie had chosen a high spot, with a good view of the road from the village. The dusk momentarily heightened all the colors of the countryside, lighting the land with jewels; a glowing emerald in the hollows, a lovely shadowed amethyst among the clumps of heather, and burning rubies on the red-berried rowan trees that crowned the hills. ... The rain had eased to a faint drizzle that misted the air and spangled my eyelashes with rainbows when I looked at the flames.

p.760 - "It's ... difficult to explain. It's ... it's like ... I think it's as though everyone has a small place inside themselves, maybe, a private bit that they keep to themselves. It's like a little fortress, where the most private part of you lives - maybe it's your soul, maybe just that bit that makes you yourself and not anyone else." ... "You don't show that bit of yourself to anyone, usually, unless sometimes to someone that ye love greatly." ... "Now, it's like ... like my own fortress has been blown up with gunpowder - there's nothing left of it but ashes and a smoking rooftree, and the little naked thing that lived there once is out in the open, squeaking and whimpering in fear, tryin' to hide itself under a blade of grass or a bit o' leaf, but...but not...makin' m-much a job of it." His voice broke, and he turned his head so that his face was hidden in my skirt.

p.797-798 - There was a feeling, not sudden, but complete, as though I had been given a small object to hold unseen in my hands. Precious as opal, smooth as jade, weighty as a river stone, more fragile than a bird's egg. Infinitely still, live as the root of Creation. Not a gift, but a trust. Fiercely to cherish, softly to guard. The words spoke themselves and disappeared into the groined shadows of the roof.
I genuflected to the Presence then, and left the chapel, never doubting, in the eternity of the moment with time stops, that I had an answer, but having no idea what that answer was. I knew only that what I held was a human soul; my own or another's, I could not tell.

...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 29, 2019 Snem rated it really liked it

I remained largely spoiler free on this and that was a good thing, all I knew was time travel, Scottish highlands, kilts. Right on, I’m with it, let’s go. I found this interesting and engaging. The romance was believable and intense. The dialogue is well done and I was surprisingly moved by a few moments.

Thank goodness for a vacation with a couple of long plane rides because this book is long. There is just so much stuffed in here. I also have this issue with many time travel books in that the ...more

Like · see review

May 23, 2020 Marisa rated it liked it

Shelves: strong-female-character-s, historical-fiction, scifi-fantasy, humans-are-scary, worth-re-reading, the-right-touch-of-romance, europe-adventure, difficult-to-rate

Outlander is difficult to rate. Some reviewers call this book "trash," but I don't think something so well-written should be described as such. I can see why people are so divided. The story and characters are thoughtfully crafted. Gabaldon garners intrigue with scenes that generate genuine laughter and support for her characters' well being. The other side of the coin includes prolonged scenes or conversations involving brutality, rape, and sexual assault. No one can fault a story for consistin ...more

Like · see review

Sep 22, 2018 Jennifer Hoque rated it it was ok

I got through 200+ pages of this. But then the romance really got started and I just couldn’t keep reading with all the eye rolling I was doing. I still look forward to watching to tv show, but the book just isn’t doing it for me.

Like · see review