June 2017.
Perfidia
by James Ellroy
(Windmill Books, Penguin Random House, 2014)
Japanese men were born to embody the concept of Act.
Page 24.
I always do what I say I’m going to do. I formally state my intent and proceed from that point.
Page 29.
This diary is a broadside against stasis and unrest.
Page 30.
I lived to read, draw and roam.
Page 31.
I relinquished myself to an aimless bohemianism.
Page 31.
Sex was not what I imagined. It was tension, scent and prosaic misalliance. It was sweet and sad revelation, and all expectation dashed.
Page 31.
L.A.’s sinfulness enraged him. The scale of the place drew him in.
Page 37.
Thread the needle. Hit the wiggle spot.
Page 39.
Glenn Miller’s band plays “Perfidia.”
Page 54.
War gives men a plain and simple something to do.
Page 59.
Women write diaries in the hope that their words will beckon fate.
Page 59.
I see large events as opportunities.
Page 66.
You’d be better served taxing your conscience for those who deserve your regret.
Page 71.
Insomniacs tend to find each other.
Page 96.
Big events induce a collective loss of memory.
Page 122.
War begets The Thirst.
Page 156.
Close quarters begets combustion.
Page 167.
I indulge prayer when the world seems incomprehensible and only a plea to the incomprehensible makes sense.
Page 178.
Devilish men require families … They keep you safe while you do what you damn please.
Page 190.
Unbidden children represent unbidden fate.
Page 190.
Sex equals social consciousness equals politics.
Page 239.
I've seem how the inability to think clearly and act decisively has hobbled our leaders and sustained oppressive conditions in this country.
Page 240.
She's immune to doubt. It's her strength as a snitch and her flaw as a cognizant being.
Page 248.
Racial exclusivity facilitates the social code. The natural instinct to exclude must be codified by law.
Page 268.
All betrayals start with friendship.
Page 299.
The lad possessed initiative but lacked male dignity.
Page 315.
It insults me that you repeat yourself.
Page 389.
It's not betrayal if you supply the information voluntarily, and without malice.
Page 427.
“Pretend that you’re like the rest of us for a while.”
Page 437.
The war justified the misconduct.
Page 473.
Self-sacrifice oft becomes the voicing of unpopular sentiment within more popular outrage.
Page 481.
Expressed outrage does not equal reason and any succor that it provides to our enemies must be seen as incidental and not actionable in any sane court of law.
Page 545.
There's quite the thrill in being coerced.
Page 578.
Sub fear was weird juju. It connoted werewolves of the sea.
Page 627.
I must be certain that those close to me share my identical interests. I'm benevolent within that construction. I'm ghastly outside of it.
Page 634.
L.A. would build up and out after the war. It would become unrecognizable. The war gave him L.A. ablaze with crazy purpose. The war let him love L.A. one last time as it was.
Page 653.
I miss the people I've betrayed and who've betrayed me.
Page 691.
Boredom is a common state for shallow folks.
Page 715.
I will feel less alone as I recall your face twenty years from now.
Page 716.
War enticed runners.
Page 720.
It feels good to bite humans. You should try it.
Page 722.
Ideology and money make for strange bedfellows.
Page 754.
We're going to get shit-faced and become over-familiar, because the war has sanctioned such indecorous behavior.
Page 765.
Miss Davis failed at insight and excelled at technique.
Page 766.
Miss Davis was all artifice, save for her fear and rage. It was fear of nothingness and rage at the prospect fulfilled.
Page 766.
It's very powerful to love someone that you shouldn't.
Page 777.