The House with a Clock in Its Walls (Lewis Barnavelt, #1)

by John Bellairs

death-watch beetles.

whispering galleries.

Most magic is accomplished with solid everyday objects.

Most of the time when he lined up to be chosen he was the last one left,

“Napoleon at St. Helena,”

April 30, which is Walpurgis Night.

Then the two of them went to the library, slid back the panelled doors, and entered the marvelous room that smelled of damp paper, wood smoke, and Turkoman’s Terror, Jonathan’s personal tobacco blend.

one cane was magic.

“Rugbug,” the famous fox trot composed by Maxine Hollister.

He heard the secret inwound conversations of bulbs and roots, and the breathing of flowers.

And Lewis knew strange things, without knowing how he came to know them. He knew that there was a cat named Texaco buried in the patch of ground he knelt on. Its delicate ivory skeleton was falling slowly to pieces down there, and its dank fur was shrivelled and matted and rotten. The boy who had buried the cat had buried a sand pail full of shells near it. Lewis did not know the name of the boy, or how long ago he had buried the cat and the pail, but he could see the red and blue pail clearly. Blotches of brown rust were eating up the bright designs, and the shells were covered with green mold.

Sin-and-Flesh Creek

maybe it’s because the eclipse is only visible in this yard.”

French painter Odilon Redon.

tricky plays, like the “Statue of Liberty.”

He looked through all the strange old volumes, with their pentacles and pentagrams, their anagrams and talismans and abracadabras and long incantations printed in Old English lettering.

Necromancy.

half crowns, and each one was worth two and a half shillings in old-fashioned British money.

the Duke of Medina-Sidonia.

Captain General of the ‘Ocean Sea,’

Jonathan’s 1935 Muggins Simoon,

Once to every man and nation Comes the moment to decide In the strife of truth with falsehood For the good or evil side.

The proper action at the proper time to achieve the proper effect.

Our game is wild swoops, sudden inexplicable discoveries, cloudy thinking. Knights’ jumps instead of files of rooks plowing across the board. So we’d better play our way if we expect to win.”

“It sounds very reasonable. If you’re in a chess game, draw to an inside straight. If you’re playing tennis, try to hit a home run.

the proper poker-playing costume.

John L. Stoddard tells you all about Hands of Glory.”