David Nicholls
David Nicholls
David Alan Nichollsis an English novelist and screenwriter...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth30 November 1966
thinking resorts consolation-prize
I'm not the consolation prize, Dex. I'm not something you resort to. I happen to think I'm worth more than that.
long moments been-in-love
And it was at moments like this that she had to remind herself that she was in love with him, or had once been in love with him, a long time ago.
falling-in-love romantic-love love-is
He's laughing me into a stupor, she thought. I could heckle, I suppose, I could throw a bread roll at him, but he's eaten them all. She glanced at the other diners, all of them going into their act, and thought is this what it all boils down to? Romantic love, is this all it is, a talent show? Eat a meal, go to bed, fall in love with me and I promise you years and years of top notch material like this?
party cities defeated
The city had defeated her, just like they said it would. Like some overcrowded party, no one had noticed her arrival, and would notice if she left.
daughter pain eye
All his words and actions would now be fit for his daughter’s ears and eyes. Life would be lived as if under [her] constant scrutiny. He would never do anything that might cause her pain or anxiety or embarrassment and there would be nothing, absolutely nothing in his life to be ashamed of anymore.
thinking hands photograph
[He] didn’t like to think of himself as vain, but there were definitely times when he wished there was someone on hand to take his photograph.
independent character sparks
But at the best of times she feels like a character in a Muriel Spark novel — independent, bookish, sharp-minded, secretly romantic.
rose empty succession
The future rose up ahead of her, a succession of empty days, each more daunting and unknowable than the one before her.
art life-changing writing
The trick of it, she told herself, is to be courageous and bold and make a different. Not change the world exactly, just the bit around you. Go out there with your double-first, your passion and your new Smith Carona electric typewriter and work hard at ... something. Change lives through art maybe. Write beautifully. Cherish your friends, stay true to your principles, live passionately and fully and well. Experience new things. Love and be loved if at all possible. East sensibly. Stuff like that.
sorry bad-day tired
Sorry' he said. 'No, I'm sorry.' 'What are you sorry for?' 'Rattling on like a mad old cow. I'm sorry, I'm tired, bad day, and I'm sorry for being so...boring.' 'You're not that boring.' 'I am, Dex. God, I swear I bore myself.' 'Well, you don't bore me.' He took her hand in his. 'You could never bore me. You're one in a million, Em.
missing my-best-friend emma
Do you miss her?' 'Who? Emma? Of course. Every day. She was my best friend.
happened
So - whatever happened to you?' 'Life. Life happened.
flower water why-not
Their friendship was like a wilted bunch of flowers that she insisted on topping up with water. Why not let it die instead?
running nice stupid
I think what it is is, if you're in school and you're not that bright or good-looking or popular or whatever, and one day you say something and someone laughs, well, you sort of grab onto it, don't you? You think, well I run funny and I've got this stupid big face and big thighs and no-one fancies me, but at least I can make people laugh. And it's such a nice feeling, making someone laugh, that maybe you get a bit reliant on it. Like, if you;re not funny then you're not...anything