couple of good quotes

I finished Buechner's little book On the Road with the Archangel. Pretty good stuff. It's written from the Archangel Raphael's perspective as he interacts with a Jewish family living in Ninevah. These quotes are his words.

"My name is Azarias," I said, picking it out of the air, which is continually afloat with answers to even the prayers people haven't the wit to pray. They are always swarming about them like midges over a pond.

and this

Before they reached that point, however, their constant ejaculations of praise addressed to the Holy One were touching in their way but only went to show once again that by and large the world believes in him for all the wrong reasons and that, like Raguel and Edna, it disbelieves in him for all the wrong reasons too.

and finally my personal favorite

Frivolous they might be, but the people of Ecbatana at least saw that the world was created for their delight, and as they jumped about in the frigid streams and wasted their money in the crowded bazaars, they came closer to living their lives as the Holy One intended than those who were continually apologizing for their unworthiness and trying to avert the wrath of the One who, had they but known wishes the world only well.

Quick, easy, worthwhile read. Impress people by the pool.
j