She tried not to think of the words flailing in the air and then falling on her back to burn her, her skin welting".
And when Cobain sighs before the opening song, About a Girl, while staring in to the middle distance with something like terror in his eyes, it's hard not to think of the words he later wrote in a far from metaphorical suicide note: "The fact is, I can't fool you, any one of you".
"Regardless of what one may think of the words he spoke or what one may think about race, an objective observer cannot argue that Trent Lott could do anything but distract from the opportunity that a new Republican majority in the Senate presents," an official of a major trade association said on Thursday.
And while Didion is, as I said, a personal idol, on the subject of advertising I'm afraid I can't help but think of the words of another icon – the late, great Bill Hicks: "Do a commercial, you're off the artistic roll call, every word you say is suspect, you're a corporate whore and eh, end of story".
I often think of the words of Professor Neale of Stamford University who said "Every time I go into a negotiation now I remind myself that at home I have a husband, two sons, a mother-in-law, five dogs, three cats, four horses, two budgies and eight hens who are all relying on me to get a good outcome".
There are some pithy observations on London life: Alice's ex-boyfriend, Callum, an installation artist, is "one of those men of a certain haircut who gravitated towards the east of the city"; her trustafarian flatmate, Isabel, has an accent that "always made Alice think of the words 'high tea'".
