More metaphors
As a writer, I find it helpful, instructive and intriguing to keep collections of what I (rather loosely sometimes) call metaphors or similes that jump out at me when I’m reading. Here are some that I’ve come across recently.
| All the wretchedness of their shared pasts had been distilled into this one child | Kate Atkinson: Big Sky, p. 11 |
| With the remnant of his laughter still trickling from his face | Kingsley Amis: Lucky Jim, p.46 |
| Through the tulle of darkness | Lee Kofman: The Dangerous Bride, p.75 |
| Prongs of excitement | Lee Kofman: The Dangerous Bride, p.92 |
| Its walls seemed to throb with his anger | Pat Barker: Life Class, p.5 |
| Corrugated faces | Michelle de Kretser: The Life to Come, P.25 |
| Someone’s scraped me out with a spoon | Michelle de Kretser: The Life to Come, P.66 |
| The lights along the embankment shuddered in the water | Michelle de Kretser: The Life to Come, P.132 |
| A thorny sort of woman | Michelle de Kretser: The Life to Come, P.149 |
| Citrus-sharp brain (Diana Mosley) | Laura Thompson: The Six: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters p. 238 |
| His glare could have burned through brick | Kate Grenville: A Room Made of Leaves p.145 |
| The tangling of two hearts | Kate Grenville: A Room Made of Leaves p.232 |
| My smile felt as brittle as porcelain | Kate Grenville: A Room Made of Leaves p.233 |
Here are some more!
| Faces deranged by the dancing firelight | Diane Cook: The New Wilderness, p.20 |
| A scramble of rocks | Diane Cook: The New Wilderness, p.217 |
| Her severe face had no thread of relaxation in it | Charles Dickens: Little Dorrit, p.49 |
| The spool of his thoughts | Maggie O’Farrell: Hamnet, p.38 |
| A deep undertow of shame | Maggie O’Farrell: Hamnet, p.96 |
| Coiled fury | Maggie O’Farrell: Hamnet, p.145 |
| Scorched with rage | Maggie O’Farrell: Hamnet, p.345 |
| A scarf of cloud drifting across the Centrepoint Tower | Helen Garner: One Day I’ll Remember This: Diaries 1987 – 1995, p.1 |
| Frozen in their own importance | Helen Garner: One Day I’ll Remember This: Diaries 1987 – 1995, p.3 |
| A long street quivering with plane trees | Helen Garner: One Day I’ll Remember This: Diaries 1987 – 1995, p.72 |
| V’s face lost all expression, like a blackboard just wiped | Helen Garner: One Day I’ll Remember This: Diaries 1987 – 1995, p.123 |
| I vacuumed dramatically | Helen Garner: One Day I’ll Remember This: Diaries 1987 – 1995, p.224 |
littlesmackerel 