erdavis1/thumbs.csv

	sent	title	auth	owner
1	“It’s sort of interesting when you think about it,” said Jane, glancing at the photo once before she flicked it off with her thumb.	BIG LITTLE LIES	Liane Moriarty	her
2	Beloved watched the work her thumbs were doing and must have loved what she saw because she leaned over and kissed the tenderness under Sethe’s chin.	Beloved	Toni Morrison	her
3	She’s sitting on the floor with a terrified little girl… looks too old to still be sucking her thumb, but she’s sucking it for all she’s worth… This momma’s not fat at all.	BACK TO BLOOD	Tom Wolfe	her
4	She put her thumb against one of the locks and slid it.	Atonement	Ian McEwan	her
5	Maryanne could see the way the starched white crown of her habit bit into her forehead, pressing against her brows, and later would see when Sister pushed it back with her thumbs how the edge of it had turned her dark skin red.	At Weddings and Wakes	Alice McDermott	her
6	Megan stands miserably next to me, sucking her thumb.	Astonishing Splashes of Colour	Clare Morrall	her
7	Incidentally, her thumb was gouging painfully into the back of his hand.	Arrowsmith	Sinclair Lewis	her
8	She was watching me with her big gray upturned eyes and sucking on the bent knuckle of her thumb, which she now released with a slurping sound and said, “I thought she was going to quit making decisions that fouled up his career.”	Angle of Repose	Wallace Stegner	her
9	She jerked her thumb at the back door, beyond which lay the coal store and wash-house.	An Ice-Cream War	William Boyd	her
10	He had but to comment favourably on the kittenish qualities of Babs Osborne for her to curl up as best she could on the plush seat beside him, her thumb in her mouth.	An Awfully Big Adventure	Beryl Bainbridge	her
11	Then Stella, perceptive of his tone if not altogether sure of his argument, abandoned her thumb-sucking.	An Awfully Big Adventure	Beryl Bainbridge	her
12	Before going to bed he’d see her at her bathroom mirror drawing the crest of her cheekbones back between her index fingers while simultaneously drawing the skin at her jawline back and upward with her thumbs, firmly tugging the loose flesh until she had eradicated even the natural creases of her face, until she was staring at a face that looked like the polished kernel of a face.	American Pastoral	Philip Roth	her
13	She hooks her thumb over his seat belt and burrows in close.	AMERICA AMERICA	Ethan Canin	her
14	Marty must have been about a yard or two away from the target, ready to hurl himself into the boat, when the woman, collecting her wits, her boyfriend paralyzed by apparent indecision, noticed the sopping dummy, picked it up with her thumb and forefinger, a slightly disgusted expression on her face, and flipped it overboard just in the nick of time.	ALWAYS BY MY SIDE	Jim Nantz with Eli Spielman	her
15	Keys as long as Marie-Laure’s forearm and keys shorter than her thumb.	ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE	Anthony Doerr	her
16	She kisses him on both cheeks, then touches his bruises with her thumbs.	ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE	Anthony Doerr	her
17	I bit my tongue, and did not say that if she would keep her thumbs out of the butter she’d stand less chance of it.	Alias Grace	Margaret Atwood	her
18	With a quick slide of her thumb she brings the electro-stun end to life: The tip of it crackles like static, and a blue elemental spark dances between two prongs.	AFTERMATH: EMPIRE'S END	Chuck Wendig	her
19	She pulls her thumb away from the inside of her index finger—the sap leaking from the punctured skin of the dark orange fruit is brown and sticky and nearly glues her thumb to her finger.	AFTERMATH: EMPIRE'S END	Chuck Wendig	her
20	She chewed her thumb nail as she thought about this.	A WOLF AT THE TABLE	Augusten Burroughs	her
21	She brought her thumb to her mouth and bit the nail.	A WOLF AT THE TABLE	Augusten Burroughs	her
22	She nodded and chewed at her thumbnail.	A WOLF AT THE TABLE	Augusten Burroughs	her
23	She held her thumb sideways: Yes or no?	A WANTED MAN	Lee Child	her
24	Hers was cool, and her thumbnail dug into my palm.	A Thousand Acres	Jane Smiley	her
25	And the exact, clunky weight of those shears instantly came to her mind, along with the too-thick handle loop that pressed uncomfortably against the bone at the base of her thumb, and the initial balkiness as the heavy teeth began chewing into the fabric.	A SPOOL OF BLUE THREAD	Anne Tyler	her
26	Elise had got hold of a glass of white wine; she was pinching the stem daintily between her thumb and index finger with all her other fingers splayed out, and her makeup had worn thin and her black eye was re-emerging.	A SPOOL OF BLUE THREAD	Anne Tyler	her
27	She digs into an orange with her thumbs and peels back the thick cratered crust, carefully picks off the white veins.	A PIECE OF THE WORLD	Christina Baker Kline	her
28	Wax dripping on her thumb.	A PIECE OF THE WORLD	Christina Baker Kline	her
29	Nina used her thumb to wipe the tears away from one side of her daughter’s face as Sofia used the back of her hand to wipe them away from the other.	A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW	Amor Towles	her
30	Holding the glasses between her thumb and fingers, she waved them before Justin’s averted face.	A Flag for Sunrise	Robert Stone	her
31	Then she would fly as Aegon the Conqueror had flown, up and up, until Meereen was so small that she could blot it out with her thumb.	A DANCE WITH DRAGONS	George R R Martin	her
32	Asha picked at the pink wax with her thumbnail.	A DANCE WITH DRAGONS	George R R Martin	her
33	She liked how he grinned when she brushed her thumbs across his nipples.	A DANCE WITH DRAGONS	George R R Martin	her
34	It was five feet long, slender and supple, thick as her thumb, with leather wrapped around the shaft a foot from the top.	A DANCE WITH DRAGONS	George R R Martin	her
35	She was running the ball of her thumb across the most worn of them, trying to decide which king it showed, when she heard the door opening softly behind her.	A DANCE WITH DRAGONS	George R R Martin	her
36	The memory of another night flared in his mind—a point made with bodies pressed together, an argument punctuated with a kiss—but now she simply pressed her thumb to his forehead and drew a short line above his brows.	A CONJURING OF LIGHT	V E Schwab	her
37	Lila drew a knife, and nicked her thumb, tracing over the mark in blood.	A CONJURING OF LIGHT	V E Schwab	her
38	She sniffed one that looked like it held oil before tipping the mouth of the bottle against the pad of her thumb.	A CONJURING OF LIGHT	V E Schwab	her
39	Leila picked at a hangnail, a tiny bead of blood pooling on her thumb.	10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World	Elif Shafak	her
40	She shows him the emerald, big as her thumbnail.	Wolf Hall	Hilary Mantel	her
41	And then she put her thumb in her mouth for a gag and she cried silently.	The Grapes of Wrath	John Steinbeck	her
42	She imagined pressing her thumbs into Hemerling’s windpipe until it cracked.	The Corrections	Jonathan Franzen	her
43	Annabelle had spread her small legs on each side of Ann’s bulbous belly, laid her wet head across Ann’s big chest, and was sucking her thumb, shivering.	Olive Kitteridge	Elizabeth Strout	her
44	Annabelle had spread her small legs on each side of Ann’s bulbous belly, laid her wet head across Ann’s big chest, and was sucking her thumb, shivering.	Olive Kitteridge	Elizabeth Strout	her
45	During her bedridden years Desdemona had fluid in her lungs; lumbago; bursitis; a spell of eclampsia that manifested itself a half-century later than etiologically normal and then just as mysteriously vanished, to Desdemona’s regret; a severe case of shingles that made her ribs and back the color and texture of ripe strawberries and stung like a cattle prod; nineteen colds; a week of purely figurative “walking” pneumonia; ulcers; psychosomatic cataracts which clouded her vision on the anniversaries of her husband’s death and which she basically just cried away; and Dupuytren’s contracture, where inflamed fascia in her hand curled her thumb and three fingers painfully into her palm, leaving her middle finger raised in an obscene gesture.	Middlesex	Jeffrey Eugenides	her
46	She shook it and flicked the button with her thumb until at last a small flame shot out.	Middlesex	Jeffrey Eugenides	her
47	During her bedridden years Desdemona had fluid in her lungs; lumbago; bursitis; a spell of eclampsia that manifested itself a half-century later than etiologically normal and then just as mysteriously vanished, to Desdemona’s regret; a severe case of shingles that made her ribs and back the color and texture of ripe strawberries and stung like a cattle prod; nineteen colds; a week of purely figurative “walking” pneumonia; ulcers; psychosomatic cataracts which clouded her vision on the anniversaries of her husband’s death and which she basically just cried away; and Dupuytren’s contracture, where inflamed fascia in her hand curled her thumb and three fingers painfully into her palm, leaving her middle finger raised in an obscene gesture.	Middlesex	Jeffrey Eugenides	her
48	She shook it and flicked the button with her thumb until at last a small flame shot out.	Middlesex	Jeffrey Eugenides	her
49	She ran the back of her fingers slowly down his cheek, her thumb traveling lightly over his lower lip.	March	Geraldine Brooks	her
50	Her water glass has left two-thirds of a ring on the table, and she works at completing the circle with her thumbnail.	Housekeeping	Marilynne Robinson	her
51	And she'd put her hands upon my head and stroke my cheeks with her thumbs, brooding over my face.	Fingersmith	Sarah Waters	her
52	I lean back in my chair, and watch as she runs her thumb along the edge of china, admires the weave of the napkin she spreads on her knee.	Fingersmith	Sarah Waters	her
53	She tests again with her thumb, keeps her hand another second at my jaw, and then draws back.	Fingersmith	Sarah Waters	her
54	She put the tip of her thumb to the edge of the pocket in her skirt and pulled it back.	Fingersmith	Sarah Waters	her
55	I took it back to Nurse Bacon, and she opened up her pocket with the tip of her thumb, like before.	Fingersmith	Sarah Waters	her
56	She was smoothing her thumb upon mine.	Fingersmith	Sarah Waters	her
57	She sucked air through her teeth and bit on the knuckle of her thumb.	A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS	Khaled Hosseini	her
58	Laila watched her put her thumb into its mouth, just over the lower jaw, push it in, and, in one downward stroke, remove the gills and the entrails.	A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS	Khaled Hosseini	her
59	In Mariam's lap, she sucked her thumb cheerlessly and watched Rasheed in a sullen, pensive way.	A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS	Khaled Hosseini	her
60	For it was he who drove the babies around, sometimes brought them to meetings, Sunshine in a pouch that strapped on his back, Bunny sucking her thumb [15] and hanging on his trouser leg.	The Shipping News	E. Annie Proulx	her
61	She pants, this – her thumb? – thrust whole into my anus is capricious . . . her tongue, travelling round and round my ear . . . compulsive.	Umbrella	Will Self	her
62	Her fingers stroke the powder-burnt backs of his, her thumb slides over the mound of his . . . — Stanley will never become accustomed to the seemingly casual acceptance of their liaison – not only by the likes of Willis, Bertie and the curse-spot-woman, but also by those in her family home.	Umbrella	Will Self	her
63	The DPO hooks her thumbs in her broad leather belt.	Umbrella	Will Self	her
64	Adeline’s palm is passionately hot, and beneath the brittle pad of her thumb Audrey detects a strong and rapid pulse.	Umbrella	Will Self	her
65	I’m Athena Dukakis, she says as they shake – and Busner searches quickly through many silver bands including one on her thumb!	Umbrella	Will Self	her
66	She put her thumb into her mouth.	The Son	Philipp Meyer	her
67	Laurel turned the page, using her thumb to flatten the plastic corner of the yellowing protective sheet.	THE SECRET KEEPER	Kate Morton	her
68	Afterwards, Laurel sat on the window ledge in her bedroom, chewing her thumbnail and watching the three men outside by the gate.	THE SECRET KEEPER	Kate Morton	her
69	She waited, biting her thumbnail, ruing (not for the first time) her brother’s contrary refusal to get a mobile, as a distant telephone on a cluttered Cambridge desk, rang and rang and rang.	THE SECRET KEEPER	Kate Morton	her
70	She threaded the end of the open circle back through the next link and then used her thumbnail ever so carefully to close it.	THE SECRET KEEPER	Kate Morton	her
71	It was the sort used to hold photographs, she realized, rubbing her thumb over the fine swirling pattern engraved on its pretty front.	THE SECRET KEEPER	Kate Morton	her
72	Vivien bent over, gripped it between her thumb and finger, and pulled as hard as she could.	THE SECRET KEEPER	Kate Morton	her
73	She bit her thumbnail as the words went around and around inside her head: “I worry there is much she will possess that others may seek to take.”	THE SECRET KEEPER	Kate Morton	her
74	Laurel frowned, running her thumb over the flaw.	THE SECRET KEEPER	Kate Morton	her
75	She’d looked down at her younger sister, Isabelle, who still sucked her thumb at four and had no idea what was going on.	THE NIGHTINGALE	Kristin Hannah	her
76	She chewed on her thumbnail, unable to be still, and then she heard footsteps.	THE NIGHTINGALE	Kristin Hannah	her
77	“Just a teeny one,” she said, holding her thumb and forefinger an inch apart.	THE LAST MAN	Vince Flynn	her
78	She came straight to Margaret and shook her hand, an unusual gesture for her and a painful one for Margaret, who had, the day before, dislocated her thumb while she was stacking firewood.	The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford	Jean Stafford	her
79	The baby would find her thumb, and suck, and stare, and stare and suck, and finally consent to be put down, and sleep again.	Praxis	Fay Weldon	her
80	When she couldn’t stand it anymore, she reached behind her, grabbed a handful of pink gingham, hooked her thumb underneath the underpants’ elastic, and yanked.	MRS. EVERYTHING	Jennifer Weiner	her
81	She stood on her tiptoes to brush the ball of her thumb over Jo’s left brow.	MRS. EVERYTHING	Jennifer Weiner	her
82	She had taken off the pumps she wore to work, the ones that left a red line across her instep, and was rubbing one foot with her thumb, sighing as she sat at the kitchen table, with a notebook and a nubbly plastic box of recipes, written in her large, looping handwriting on index cards, in front of her.	MRS. EVERYTHING	Jennifer Weiner	her
83	The woman took Bethie by the elbow and led her back down the hall, back into the elevator, back to the lobby, where her sister was sitting on the love seat, holding Saul Bellow’s Herzog, with her thumb marking her place.	MRS. EVERYTHING	Jennifer Weiner	her
84	Jo was chewing on her thumbnail, the way she did when she was thinking.	MRS. EVERYTHING	Jennifer Weiner	her
85	Anya moved behind him and began pressing her thumbs deep into the soft tissue behind his neck.	MARRIED LOVERS	Jackie Collins	her
86	Eve hooked her thumbs in her belt loops.	DELUSION IN DEATH	J D Robb	her
87	She bit her thumb.	Bear and His Daughter: Stories	Robert Stone	her
88	She made the circle with her thumb and forefinger and held it to her forehead.	AGENDA 21	Glenn Beck with Harriet Parke	her
89	She used to do a trick where it looked like she would be pulling off her thumb, when in fact she was not.	A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius	Dave Eggers	her
90	She would cut herself while slicing vegetables, cut the living shit out of her finger, usually her thumb, and it would bleed everywhere, on the tomatoes, the cutting board, in the sink, while we watched at her waist, awed, scared she would die.	A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius	Dave Eggers	her
91	Signora Carmelina Spinnato bounced over to his desk and looked gravely at his profile, and then bounced around front and set up a frame with her thumbs and forefingers and looked through it at his full face.	A Bell for Adano	John Hersey	her
92	and then with his knees pinning down the outstretched arms, simply grabbing the throat and pressing the balls of his thumbs down on the windpipe, and when the tongue came out and eyes rolled up walloping the head two three times on the floor like it was a coconut he wanted to crack open.	Billy Bathgate	E. L. Doctorow	his
93	Irving came over to him with a cigarette lighter, which he got going with one press of his thumb just a moment before he held it to the tip.	Billy Bathgate	E. L. Doctorow	his
94	How do you think I did it, hanging him by his thumbs, like this?	Billy Bathgate	E. L. Doctorow	his
95	he said pointing his thumb to the table.	Billy Bathgate	E. L. Doctorow	his
96	Berman lit a cigarette and cupped it in his palm with his thumb and forefinger.	Billy Bathgate	E. L. Doctorow	his
97	Berman and sat back and stuck his thumbs in his vest pockets and a big broad smile came over his face.	Billy Bathgate	E. L. Doctorow	his
98	On Ash Wednesday, at the beginning of Lent, our entire class would walk next door to the church, where the priest would dip his thumb in ashes and mark the sign of the cross on our foreheads while intoning the ancient line, “Remember, man, thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return.”	BIG RUSS AND ME	Tim Russert	his
99	He stopped, and ran his thumb across his armrest as if he were doing some sort of quality-control test.	BIG LITTLE LIES	Liane Moriarty	his
100	He sat on her lap and sucked his thumb when he got tired.	BIG LITTLE LIES	Liane Moriarty	his
101	The nephew came back from peeping inside the house, and after touching his lips for silence, pointed his thumb to say that what they were looking for was round back.	Beloved	Toni Morrison	his
102	Turned his thumb backwards.	Beloved	Toni Morrison	his
103	With his child passed out on the couch, after arrests and drunk tanks and hospitalizations, Lynch, the undertaker and poet and essayist, looked at his dear addicted son with sad but lucid resignation, and he wrote: “I want to remember him the way he was, that bright and beaming boy with the blue eyes and the freckles in the photos, holding the walleye on his grandfather’s dock, or dressed in his first suit for his sister’s grade-school graduation, or sucking his thumb while drawing at the kitchen counter, or playing his first guitar, or posing with the brothers from down the block on his first day of school.”	BEAUTIFUL BOY	David Sheff	his
104	He put his forefinger near his thumb to show how small it was.	BACK TO BLOOD	Tom Wolfe	his
105	With his thumb he indicated the booth behind him.	BACK TO BLOOD	Tom Wolfe	his
106	Then Korolyov extended one toward Magdalena and she reached up, and he slipped the card down past her fingers and placed it upon her palm and pressed it into her hand with his fingertips, anchoring them with his thumb on the back of her hand, and poured gouts and gouts and gouts of himself into her eyes ::::::for far too long!:::::: before turning away.	BACK TO BLOOD	Tom Wolfe	his
107	Then he shut his eyes and lowered his head and massaged his temples with one hand… his thumb pressing one temple and his middle and ring fingers the other.	BACK TO BLOOD	Tom Wolfe	his
108	It doesn’t matter if he’s asleep, daydreaming, playing tennis, off on a cruise, or, for that matter, doing what he usually does, trying to find a way to wrap at least one finger and his thumb around his erect phallus without pressing upon any of his herpes blisters.	BACK TO BLOOD	Tom Wolfe	his
109	He did a quick air sculpture, putting his forefingers and the tips of his thumbs under his nose and swooping them way out as far as his ears.	BACK TO BLOOD	Tom Wolfe	his
110	She married Richmond, the stone mason, who was my Methodist Sunday-school teacher in the earliest days, and he had one distinction which I envied him: at some time or other he had hit his thumb with his hammer and the result was a thumb-nail which remained permanently twisted and distorted and curved and pointed, like a parrot’s beak.	AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MARK TWAIN, VOL. 1	Mark Twain	his
111	He would make a fist and, with his thumb around his fingers, color his closed finger with lipstick for a mouth, make two “eyes” with black chalk, and create his so-called little friend named Johnny, or, as Señor Wences pronounced the name, “Yonnie.”	AUDITION	Barbara Walters	his
112	I remember his putting his thumb on my lips and his fingers on my vocal cords during our first interview.	AUDITION	Barbara Walters	his
113	Yadin spoke proudly of his creation, but as he talked, he used his thumb to rhythmically click the mechanism of a ballpoint pen.	ATHENA DOCTRINE	John Gerzema and Michael D'Antonio	his
114	No, he kept his fingers out, his palm open, and she draped her own thin hand between his thumb and forefinger, as if they needed only the gentlest touch to hold them fast.	At Weddings and Wakes	Alice McDermott	his
115	In another of his poems, ‘The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb’, a boy named Conrad is warned not to suck his thumbs because it will attract the attention of a ghoulish figure known as the great tall tailor who always comes To little boys that suck their thumbs.	AT HOME	Bill Bryson	his
116	They go so fast; That both his thumbs are off at last.	AT HOME	Bill Bryson	his
117	He held the wings together with his thumbs so Kate could look at it more closely, and when he brought his hands to her face he could feel her warm breath on his wrists.	ASK AGAIN, YES	Mary Beth Keane	his
118	He’d pulled off his mittens and rubbed at the scratches with his thumb, but there they were, glaringly obvious in the polished mirror finish of the wood.	ASK AGAIN, YES	Mary Beth Keane	his
119	“I think I broke a tooth,” Kate said, and with one hand in her hair Peter put his thumb against her bottom lip as a signal to open up.	ASK AGAIN, YES	Mary Beth Keane	his
120	Ryerson Rainsmith, in a summer suit the color of cold coffee and curdled cream, stood looking round in a self-satisfied manner with his thumbs tucked into his yellow waistcoat, drumming his fingers on his ample stomach.	AS CHIMNEY SWEEPERS COME TO DUST	Alan Bradley	his
121	Henshaw makes monkey faces, pulling at the sides of his mouth with his little fingers while using his thumbs to flap his ears forward.	Arthur & George	Julian Barnes	his
122	George pretends to put his thumbs in his ears.	Arthur & George	Julian Barnes	his
123	The sergeant had pointed this out to Edalji’s father, who had commenced wiping the blade with his thumb.	Arthur & George	Julian Barnes	his
124	Pickerbaugh had a way of pressing his thumb into the back of your hand which was extraordinarily cordial and painful.	Arrowsmith	Sinclair Lewis	his
125	Often she asked Martin to explain his work, but when he was glowing, making diagrams with his thumb-nail on the tablecloth, she would interrupt him with a gracious "Darling do you mind just a second Plinder, isn't there any more of the sherry?"	Arrowsmith	Sinclair Lewis	his
126	I responded slowly, for I guessed who it was: his thumb gave him away.	Angle of Repose	Wallace Stegner	his
127	Absently he filled his pipe, interrupted his hands to lean and follow with one finger a line on the map, straightened again, tamping the tobacco into the bowl with his thumb.	Angle of Repose	Wallace Stegner	his
128	Wetting his thumb, Pricey turned another page.	Angle of Repose	Wallace Stegner	his
129	But Ollie lay back against his father with his thumb in his mouth and had no ideas.	Angle of Repose	Wallace Stegner	his
130	He had put the muzzle of a .30-.30 saddle gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger with his thumb.	Angle of Repose	Wallace Stegner	his
131	Grandfather answered only with his eyebrows, holding them up in a welcoming sort of way, testing the knife’s edge against his thumb.	Angle of Repose	Wallace Stegner	his
132	With his feet braced apart, and his thumbs tucked in his waistband, the officer waited for the taxi driver to roll down his window.	ANGELS AT THE TABLE	Debbie Macomber	his
133	He returned to the yard afterwards and washed the tomato seeds that clung to his fingernails and blackened his thumbs.	An Orchestra of Minorities	Chigozie Obioma	his
134	You will see that you will not only gain her respect, but, I tell you”—Jamike licked his thumb with his tongue until a gasp of erhen erupted—“I swear to almighty God, Ndali will love you die!”	An Orchestra of Minorities	Chigozie Obioma	his
135	Bilderbeck jerked his thumb in the direction of the officers’ quarters.	An Ice-Cream War	William Boyd	his
136	The man might be something of a bounder, dispatching young Geoffrey every afternoon to that bookie in the Nelson Arms, not to mention the way he tapped his cigarettes on his thumbnail, but he was, after all, a favourite of Rose Lipman; Leastways, he was a distant connection of Councillor Harris, and he had made an enormous success as Cousin Syd in that comedy series on the Light Programme, quite apart from his role in Charley’s Aunt on Saturday Night Theatre.	An Awfully Big Adventure	Beryl Bainbridge	his
137	He stood there in his camel-hair coat, tapping a cigarette on his thumbnail.	An Awfully Big Adventure	Beryl Bainbridge	his
138	I’ll show you why Julian Garmony is running round the Inns of Court with his thumb up his arse!	Amsterdam	Ian McEwan	his
139	Every so often Herr Siedler runs his thumb and finger along the crease in his pin-striped trousers, sharpening it.	ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE	Anthony Doerr	his
140	Every night the moment returns to him: when he clasped that pear-shaped diamond between his thumb and forefinger, made huge by the lens of his loupe, and believed he held the one-hundred-and-thirty-three-carat Sea of Flames.	ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE	Anthony Doerr	his
141	He had finally managed to put FP under his thumb.	ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE	Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera	his
142	With his thumb he shoves the button that kills the engine and then just sits there for a few minutes.	All That Man Is	David Szalay	his
143	But before that happens—he extends his thumb, opening up a comm channel to make a call to Underboss Rynscar of the Black Sun.	AFTERMATH: EMPIRE'S END	Chuck Wendig	his
144	Ahead, the shuttle squares out in front of him, and his thumb finds the top of the flight stick.	AFTERMATH: EMPIRE'S END	Chuck Wendig	his
145	He pressed the button again, with his thumb this time, banging it a bit as if to make a stronger point.	After This	Alice McDermott	his
146	This morning, woken by the wind, he had put his thumb to each fingertip, counting decades.	After This	Alice McDermott	his
147	For the second time today, he touched his thumb to his fingertips.	After This	Alice McDermott	his
148	With his thumbs hooked over the lid, the boy carried the box up the beach, behind his father and brother and sister, feeling the drag of sand but feeling, too, that with a small effort he could overtake them.	After This	Alice McDermott	his
149	Then Michael told a joke about a workman in a church who hammered his thumb and cursed.	After This	Alice McDermott	his
150	He'd hunker down at a side table with a pair of locals, his thumb to his jaw, his fingers splayed across his cheek and then rise, laughing, slapping backs.	After This	Alice McDermott	his
151	He'd bend down first for an openmouthed kiss and then, with his thumb slipped behind her belt, walk her to the stairs.	After This	Alice McDermott	his
152	“Except I hear this afternoon maybe you’re under his thumb.	Advise and Consent	Allen Drury	his
153	Also, he quickly bit his thumbnail, something my mother did and I also did when I was nervous.	A WOLF AT THE TABLE	Augusten Burroughs	his
154	She used the first ramp, west toward Denver and Salt Lake City, and he walked under the bridge and set up on the eastbound ramp, one foot on the shoulder and one in the traffic lane, and he stuck out his thumb and smiled and tried to look friendly.	A WANTED MAN	Lee Child	his
155	He got half an inch of it loose and gripped that makeshift tab between the pad of his thumb and his forefinger.	A WANTED MAN	Lee Child	his
156	He turned back and put one foot in the traffic lane again and stuck out his thumb.	A WANTED MAN	Lee Child	his
157	He traced his thumbnail over pale blue ink, in an irregular pattern, stop and go, leaping backward from one time stamp to another, then pausing at an eleven-line entry.	A WANTED MAN	Lee Child	his
158	He jabbed his thumb to the left.	A WANTED MAN	Lee Child	his
159	Reacher jabbed his finger in Alan King’s direction and his thumb in Don McQueen’s, and then he opened his hand and raised it uncertainly, questioningly, like a universal semaphore: Why them too?	A WANTED MAN	Lee Child	his
160	He held his thumb up.	A WANTED MAN	Lee Child	his
161	He clamped the Colt in his right hand, between the flat of his thumb and his palm.	A WANTED MAN	Lee Child	his
162	Reacher moved his thumb and switched to triples.	A WANTED MAN	Lee Child	his
163	He put one foot on the shoulder and one in the traffic lane, and he stuck out his thumb, and he smiled and tried to look friendly.	A WANTED MAN	Lee Child	his
164	All he did was stick out his thumb.	A WANTED MAN	Lee Child	his
165	He’s got everyone on this place under his thumb.”	A Thousand Acres	Jane Smiley	his
166	But this other stuff—” Ty glanced at me, rubbed the corners of his mouth with his thumb and forefinger, then slowed down and pulled to the side of the road.	A Thousand Acres	Jane Smiley	his
167	He pushed his thumb down on the latch and opened the door in a smoothly aggressive way, as if, I thought meanly, he was practiced at taking advantage of small openings.	A Thousand Acres	Jane Smiley	his
168	He touched Claire’s cheek, then ran his thumb across her lips.	A SUMMER AFFAIR	Elin Hilderbrand	his
169	Edward took a glass, then reached out, grabbed Siobhan’s chin between his thumb and forefinger, and kissed her flush on the mouth.	A SUMMER AFFAIR	Elin Hilderbrand	his
170	He touched her face, ran his thumbs over her cheekbones, then over her lips.	A SUMMER AFFAIR	Elin Hilderbrand	his
171	Squinting, he holds out his thumb.	A PIECE OF THE WORLD	Christina Baker Kline	his
172	They had carved their initials, RUF (Revolutionary United Front), on his body with a hot bayonet and chopped off all his fingers with the exception of his thumbs.	A LONG WAY GONE	Ishmael Beah	his
173	Fashioned in the shape of an egret with the long silver blades representing the bird’s beak and the small golden screw at the pivot representing its eye, the scissors were so delicate he could barely fit his thumb and finger through the rings.	A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW	Amor Towles	his
174	But on the very first stroke of this hammer what the Count squarely hit was the back of his thumb.	A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW	Amor Towles	his
175	He ran his thumb over the surface of the insignia.	A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW	Amor Towles	his
176	Without turning, he pointed with his thumb back in the direction of the Alexander Gardens.	A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW	Amor Towles	his
177	Holding it up with a wistful smile, he ran his thumb over the insignia of the two crossed keys that was embossed on the glass.	A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW	Amor Towles	his
178	The Count took a kopek from the ticket pocket of his vest and laid it on his thumbnail so that they could determine by toss who would get to choose the tie-breaking category.	A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW	Amor Towles	his
179	Pablo chewed his thumbnail.	A Flag for Sunrise	Robert Stone	his
180	She closed his hand over her, his thumb in the cleft of her buttocks, his fingers playing over the down and labia.	A Flag for Sunrise	Robert Stone	his
181	Lord Godric took a pinch between his thumb and forefinger and sprinkled his own trencher.	A DANCE WITH DRAGONS	George R R Martin	his
182	The day he took his leave of her, as she was bidding him farewell, he had brushed the balls of his thumbs lightly across them, back and forth.	A DANCE WITH DRAGONS	George R R Martin	his
183	Tyrion drove the dagger’s point into the ball of his thumb, watched the blood bead up, sucked it away.	A DANCE WITH DRAGONS	George R R Martin	his
184	He brushed his thumbs across them in a way that was remarkably obscene and smiled a wicked smile.	A DANCE WITH DRAGONS	George R R Martin	his
185	The brown ink came away in flakes when Jon brushed it with his thumb.	A DANCE WITH DRAGONS	George R R Martin	his
186	Daario brushed his thumbs across his sword hilts and smiled dangerously.	A DANCE WITH DRAGONS	George R R Martin	his
187	The nails on all four fingers were black now, though not yet on his thumb.	A DANCE WITH DRAGONS	George R R Martin	his
188	It still hurts, Halfmaester, thank you very much, thought Tyrion, as he pricked the ball of his thumb.	A DANCE WITH DRAGONS	George R R Martin	his
189	“You don’t look well,” he whispered, his thumb tracing her jaw.	A CONJURING OF LIGHT	V E Schwab	his
190	Kell burst into Rhy’s rooms, taking up the prince’s gold pin from the table and jabbing it into his thumb, harder than necessary.	A CONJURING OF LIGHT	V E Schwab	his
191	Alucard took the weapon and briskly pierced his thumb, then pressed the cut to the corner of the paper.	A CONJURING OF LIGHT	V E Schwab	his
192	A single lantern hung from the ceiling, and Kell snapped his fingers, pale fire dancing above his thumb as he reached up to light the wick.	A CONJURING OF LIGHT	V E Schwab	his
193	He pulled her close, brushing his thumb against her cheek, and she knew he was looking at her eye, the spiral of fractured glass.	A CONJURING OF LIGHT	V E Schwab	his
194	Alucard licked his thumb and turned a page.	A CONJURING OF LIGHT	V E Schwab	his
195	When Holland didn’t move, the man sighed and flicked his own fingers, producing a small coin-sized flame that danced above his thumb.	A CONJURING OF LIGHT	V E Schwab	his
196	He slipped it onto his thumb.	A CONJURING OF LIGHT	V E Schwab	his
197	He ran his thumb over the brittle shell.	A CONJURING OF LIGHT	V E Schwab	his
198	IV Holland was sitting on his cot, studying the band of silver on his thumb, when he heard Lila storming up the stairs, heard the splash of something heavy breaking water, the tread of too many feet.	A CONJURING OF LIGHT	V E Schwab	his
199	Kell pressed his thumb to the pin’s tip, drawing blood.	A CONJURING OF LIGHT	V E Schwab	his
200	“Every vessel can be emptied,” said Holland, twisting the silver binding ring around his thumb.	A CONJURING OF LIGHT	V E Schwab	his
201	His fingers felt bare without his rings, but the only absence that mattered was the silver feather he’d worn wrapped around his thumb.	A CONJURING OF LIGHT	V E Schwab	his
202	He rubbed the new frost off the keyhole with his thumb, the same way Reacher had.	61 HOURS	Lee Child	his
203	Plato moved his thumb and tripped the release and the part-used magazine fell out and plinked against the concrete.	61 HOURS	Lee Child	his
204	All he did was stick out his thumb.	61 HOURS	Lee Child	his
205	There were two-door cars and four-door cars, convertibles and dump trucks, police cars and ambulances, taxis and buses, fire trucks and cement mixers, delivery trucks and station wagons, Fords and Chryslers, Pontiacs and Studebakers, Buicks and Nash Ramblers, each one different from the others, no two even remotely alike, and whenever Ferguson began to push one of them across the floor, he would bend down and look inside at the empty driver’s seat, and because every car needed a driver in order to move, he would imagine he was the person sitting behind the wheel, a tiny person, a man so tiny he was no bigger than the top joint of his thumb.	4 3 2 1	Paul Auster	his
206	Since Ferguson always sat between his parents, he would tap his mother on the arm whenever his father drifted off like that, and once he had her attention, he would point to his father by jerking back his thumb, as if to say, Look, he’s at it again, and depending on his mother’s mood, she would either nod her head and smile or shake her head and frown, sometimes emitting a brief, muffled laugh and sometimes exhaling a wordless mmmm.	4 3 2 1	Paul Auster	his
207	Laurel, Stan’s nonsensical gift for igniting his thumb and puffing on nonexistent but functioning pipes, their out-of-control laughing jags, their penchant for breaking into spontaneous dance routines (both so light on their feet), their unanimity of purpose when confronting their adversaries, all bickering and discord forgotten as they pulled together to destroy a man’s house or wreck a man’s car, but also the variations on who they were and how their identities sometimes overlapped and even merged, as when Ollie rubbed Stan’s foot thinking it was his own foot and sighed with pleasure and relief, or the ingenious ways in which they sometimes duplicated themselves, as when big Stanley and big Oliver babysat their toddler sons, little Stan and little Ollie, who were miniature replicas of their fathers, since Laurel and Hardy played both sets of roles, or when Stan was married to a female Ollie and Ollie to a female Stan, or when they met their long-lost twin brothers, close friends whose names were of course Laurel and Hardy, or, best of all, when a blood transfusion went wrong at the end of a film and Stan wound up with Ollie’s mustache and voice and the smooth-faced Hardy collapsed into a Laurel crying fit.	4 3 2 1	Paul Auster	his
208	It belonged to someone else, and as he gazed down at the stitched-up, smoothed-over spots that had once been his thumb and index finger, he felt sick and turned his head away.	4 3 2 1	Paul Auster	his
209	The snot-clogged little boy who had breathed through his mouth and sucked his thumb was now a six-foot-two-inch adolescent, a muscular, quick-footed hulk of more than two hundred pounds who looked like a full-grown man on the field and played with an intelligence that was nothing less than bewildering to Ferguson, for Bobby George was a blockhead at all pursuits that were not baseball or football or laughing at dirty jokes, and the only reason why he wasn’t flunking half his classes was because his parents had hired a tutor from Montclair State to help keep his average from dropping below a C, which was the academic minimum required to participate in interscholastic sports.	4 3 2 1	Paul Auster	his
210	She glanced at her brother, who was sucking his thumb, unaware that he was at a critical crossroads – about to choose the course of his destiny.	10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World	Elif Shafak	his
211	This fellow here,” he jerks his thumb, rudely, at Brandon—who is back at court, of course he is back—“this fellow here, a few years ago, he charged at the king in the lists, and nearly killed him.	Wolf Hall	Hilary Mantel	his
212	He swears to uphold his heirs and lawful successors, and he thinks of the bastard child Richmond, and Mary the talking shrimp, and the Duke of Norfolk showing off his thumbnail to the company.	Wolf Hall	Hilary Mantel	his
213	Sometimes—in a kind of fellowship of the imagination—he imagines resting his hand upon her shoulder and following with his thumb the scooped hollow between her collarbone and her throat; imagines with his forefinger tracking the line of her breast as it swells above her bodice, as a child follows a line of print.	Wolf Hall	Hilary Mantel	his
214	He held her hand for a minute, stroking over her palm with his thumb.	We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves	Karen Joy Fowler	his
215	When we came up on Bunker Six, Azar lifted his thumb and peeled away from me and began circling to the south.	The Things They Carried	Tim O'Brien	his
216	He took her cheek in his bare hand, and with his thumb wiped melted snow from beneath her eye.	The Snow Child	Eowyn Ivey	his
217	Often he would scoop some of the soil in his hand and run his thumb over it, marveling at its richness, and sometimes he would pull a radish, rub it clean on his pants, and bite into it with a satisfying crunch, then toss the greens into the trees.	The Snow Child	Eowyn Ivey	his
218	Her fingers were slender and lovely, and he rubbed his thumbs along them.	The Snow Child	Eowyn Ivey	his
219	Jack reached into the fish and slid his thumbnail along the spine to break free the line of kidney like a slender blood clot, and he rinsed the blood into the creek water, until his hands ached in the cold.	The Snow Child	Eowyn Ivey	his
220	Right there in the middle of the road he took the cigarette out of my mouth and put it in his, then struck a match on his thumbnail and lit the two of them together, exactly like Humphrey Bogart.	The Poisonwood Bible	Barbara Kingsolver	his
221	He flicks his thumb and forefinger, motioning for the station wagon to pass.	The Poisonwood Bible	Barbara Kingsolver	his
222	He drove the blade again and again into the ground and smelled it again, wiped it on his trouser leg, and felt the edge with his thumb.	The Grapes of Wrath	John Steinbeck	his
223	Tom's own hands came up, and his thumbs hooked over his belt.	The Grapes of Wrath	John Steinbeck	his
224	Uncle John dug with his thumbs into the watch pocket of his blue jeans and scooped out a folded dirty bill.	The Grapes of Wrath	John Steinbeck	his
225	He tested it with his thumb and then shied it at a blackbird sitting on a fence wire.	The Grapes of Wrath	John Steinbeck	his
226	He gathered some little rocks from the ground and shot them like marbles, with his thumb.	The Grapes of Wrath	John Steinbeck	his
227	Tom pointed at her with his thumb.	The Grapes of Wrath	John Steinbeck	his
228	He blocked the perforations in the phone’s mouthpiece with his thumb and returned to the kitchen, where Jonah was standing on a chair with a package of Oreos.	The Corrections	Jonathan Franzen	his
229	Gary could feel the buzzing of his mother’s voice against his thumb.	The Corrections	Jonathan Franzen	his
230	Chuck hooked his thumbs over the steering wheel, resting his hands on his lap.	The Corrections	Jonathan Franzen	his
231	In her bedroom, on his knees, he planted his thumbs on her hipbones and pressed his mouth to her thighs and then to her whatever; she felt returned to a childhood world of Grimm and C.	The Corrections	Jonathan Franzen	his
232	With the ridged yellow nail of his thumb, Alfred pushed the polarity switch to Forward and handed the drill back to Gary, and for the first time since his arrival, their eyes met.	The Corrections	Jonathan Franzen	his
233	The fabrics were rich woolens and cashmeres, the cuts jazzy and loose, so that he no longer looked like a racetrack tout, with his chewed cigar end and his thumbs in his waistcoat.	The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay	Michael Chabon	his
234	Love and his friends to pick them up; the elbow in his ribs, the roar and ashy smell of the Cadillac’s heater, the sharp shaft of December air blowing in through the car window on the way down; the burn of a shot of rye he accepted from John Pye’s flask; the lingering mark of Bacon’s teeth and the imprint of his thumbs on Sammy’s hips.	The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay	Michael Chabon	his
235	And he jabbed his thumb at the bigger of the houses which had two stories and perhaps ten windows.	Parrot and Olivier in America	Peter Carey	his
236	He occasionally wet his thumb in brandy and smudged at what he drew.	Parrot and Olivier in America	Peter Carey	his
237	He’d draw eyes on each of his index-finger knuckles and tuck his thumbs inside his fists.	Oryx and Crake	Margaret Atwood	his
238	Then he continues on, across the moat, past the sentry boxes where the CorpSeCorps armed guards once stood and the glassed-in cubicles where they’d monitored the surveillance equipment, then past the rampart watchtower with the steel door – standing forever open, now – where he’d once have been ordered to present his thumbprint and the iris of his eye.	Oryx and Crake	Margaret Atwood	his
239	The worst for me was the painful aikido grip where you placed your thumb between victim’s pointer finger and middle finger, grabbed his thumb, and twisted his hand up under his armpit.	Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing	Ted Conover	his
240	Doctors thought it had, but then they noticed blood pulsing from a wound where his index finger had contracted and cut deep into his thumb—a sign that his heart was still pumping.	Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing	Ted Conover	his
241	He pulled his bunk away from the wall and tipped up a box he kept on the floor; soon, wriggling between his thumb and pinky was a small cockroach.	Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing	Ted Conover	his
242	He bites his thumb where the nail is missing.	Middlesex	Jeffrey Eugenides	his
243	I run my fingers over his thumb, fascinated by the missing nail, which Lefty has always told me a monkey bit off at the zoo.	Middlesex	Jeffrey Eugenides	his
244	He stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plum … After the first roll of her eyes the Object resettled her gaze on mine, and then what she was feeling showed only there, in the green depths her eyes revealed.	Middlesex	Jeffrey Eugenides	his
245	Often my father would rub my shirt between his thumb and fingers and ask, “Is this preppy?”	Middlesex	Jeffrey Eugenides	his
246	For the first few minutes I concentrated on the circular light, but finally, drawing in my chin, I looked down to see that Luce was holding the crocus between his thumb and forefinger.	Middlesex	Jeffrey Eugenides	his
247	He bites his thumb where the nail is missing.	Middlesex	Jeffrey Eugenides	his
248	I run my fingers over his thumb, fascinated by the missing nail, which Lefty has always told me a monkey bit off at the zoo.	Middlesex	Jeffrey Eugenides	his
249	He stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plum … After the first roll of her eyes the Object resettled her gaze on mine, and then what she was feeling showed only there, in the green depths her eyes revealed.	Middlesex	Jeffrey Eugenides	his
250	Often my father would rub my shirt between his thumb and fingers and ask, “Is this preppy?”	Middlesex	Jeffrey Eugenides	his
251	For the first few minutes I concentrated on the circular light, but finally, drawing in my chin, I looked down to see that Luce was holding the crocus between his thumb and forefinger.	Middlesex	Jeffrey Eugenides	his
252	He managed to snatch a handful of my hair, his thumb, as he did so, jabbing into my left eye.	March	Geraldine Brooks	his
253	He sucked his lip and looked only at his thumbs, or at the ceiling, and his voice was barely audible.	Housekeeping	Marilynne Robinson	his
254	He took up his knife, that he always kept by him, and tested the edge with his thumb.	Fingersmith	Sarah Waters	his
255	At last he slowly put his thumb to the latch, and came in.	Fingersmith	Sarah Waters	his
256	He raises his thumb and smudged forefinger to the bridge of his nose, and pinches.	Fingersmith	Sarah Waters	his
257	He fingers the soft flesh beneath my jaw, puts his thumbs to my cheeks, draws down my eye-lids.	Fingersmith	Sarah Waters	his
258	He walks a minute about the room, leaning rigidly to gaze into my uncle's book-presses—now his hands are behind his back; his thumb still twitches, however.	Fingersmith	Sarah Waters	his
259	He takes her hand, his fingers moving about hers: they seem large, also— his thumb extends almost to the bone of her wrist.	Fingersmith	Sarah Waters	his
260	He catches my eye, draws back his thumb.	Fingersmith	Sarah Waters	his
261	He presses with his thumb at the skin of his wrist and palm, and then it falls faster.	Fingersmith	Sarah Waters	his
262	He steps to the fire, wets his thumb and finger upon his tongue, puts out the candle; then he sits in a huddle in the arm-chair and makes a blanket of his coat.	Fingersmith	Sarah Waters	his
263	His face is still kind, he still smiles; but he takes my wrist and moves his thumb across it, and tries, again, to hand me into the coach.	Fingersmith	Sarah Waters	his
264	Then he puts his hand to his mouth and bites at the skin of his thumb, and frowns.	Fingersmith	Sarah Waters	his
265	He puts his hand to his mouth and begins to bite, again, at the skin of his thumb; and he watches me, carefully, cautiously, from the side of his eye.	Fingersmith	Sarah Waters	his
266	He had bounced her in his arms, run his thumb over her flaky eyebrows, and hummed a lullaby.	A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS	Khaled Hosseini	his
267	He unhooked his thumbs from the belt loops and made himself more upright, taking on a self-conscious air of menace.	A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS	Khaled Hosseini	his
268	He squeezed the inner corners of his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.	A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS	Khaled Hosseini	his
269	And then she was crying, and when he went to wipe her cheek with the pad of his thumb she swiped his hand away.	A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS	Khaled Hosseini	his
270	There was a scrap of metal this big-" Here, he spread his thumb and index finger apart to show her, at least doubling, in Mariam's estimation, the actual size of it.	A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS	Khaled Hosseini	his
271	The harbormaster pulled up a loose-leaf notebook, riffled the pages with his thumb, then handed the book to Quoyle.	The Shipping News	E. Annie Proulx	his
272	Waited, biting his thumbnail.	The Shipping News	E. Annie Proulx	his
273	He slipped the boy's knapsack straps loose and set the pack on the floor behind him and he put his thumbnail under the aluminum clip on the top of the can and opened it.	The Road	Cormac McCarthy	his
274	He felt with his thumb in the painted wood of the mantle the pinholes from tacks that had held stockings forty years ago.	The Road	Cormac McCarthy	his
275	He took the lighter from his pocket and struck the wheel with his thumb.	The Road	Cormac McCarthy	his
276	He held the stem between his thumb and forefinger and let it drop.	The Road	Cormac McCarthy	his
277	He twisted the cap off the gascan and he made a small paper spill from one of the seedpackets and poured gas into the bottle and put his thumb over the mouth and shook it.	The Road	Cormac McCarthy	his
278	They had only two cups and he drank his coffee from the bowl he'd eaten from, his thumbs hooked over the rim.	The Road	Cormac McCarthy	his
279	He chipped at it with the nail of his thumb.	The Road	Cormac McCarthy	his
280	The man wiped the dust from the caps of the jars and pushed on the lids with his thumb.	The Road	Cormac McCarthy	his
281	He tried to push the lids up off the jars with his thumbs but they were on too tight.	The Road	Cormac McCarthy	his
282	Then he set about pulling the small black threads from his skin, pressing down with the flat of his thumb.	The Road	Cormac McCarthy	his
283	Walking home, Charlie would hold out his hand and rub his thumb against his fingers, saying, “Feel that air,” while holding my hand with his other.	WISDOM OF OUR FATHERS	Tim Russert	his
284	He reaches for one of little dodecahedrons and presses it hard between his fingers, so hard that when he parts them it sticks to his forefinger and he sees the portcullis impressed in the pad of his thumb.	Umbrella	Will Self	his
285	All this is, Busner thinks, still inadequate to the task of expressing the quality of her resipiscence – a return to good health of a miraculous nature. – I – I daresay Miss, ah, Death, that at least initially – upon your admission that is . . . he desires to chafe the backs of her hands, hold them palm-down and strum with his thumbs vein, bone and tendon . . . your details were taken down correctly, but that was a long time ago, you’ve been here at Friern Hospital . . .	Umbrella	Will Self	his
286	Honest, her duplicitous husband replied, taking her hand and rubbing his thumb over the fretwork of bone and tendon and artery . . .	Umbrella	Will Self	his
287	Father set down the picnic basket and tucked his thumbs into the waistband of his trousers, gazing left and right before declaring the position “just right.”	THE SECRET KEEPER	Kate Morton	his
288	He drew on his cigarette and exhaled, running his thumb along the outline of her hair, over her shoulder, around the curve of her breast— “Jimmy?”	THE SECRET KEEPER	Kate Morton	his
289	He stuck the pad of his thumb in his chin dimple and frowned, still staring at the page.	THE SECRET KEEPER	Kate Morton	his
290	They’d bleached the nicotine stains from the first and second fingers of his right hand and taught him to smoke like a Frenchman, using his thumb and forefinger.	THE NIGHTINGALE	Kristin Hannah	his
291	Ari whimpered in his sleep and greedily sucked his thumb.	THE NIGHTINGALE	Kristin Hannah	his
292	“Maman,” he mumbled around his thumb, which he was furiously sucking.	THE NIGHTINGALE	Kristin Hannah	his
293	Bir, an illiterate man, had put his thumb impression on the lease deed.	The Lives of Others	Neel Mukherjee	his
294	The plot belonged to him, the lessee, now; the deed on which Bir had put the imprint of his thumb was a sale deed, not a deed of lease.	The Lives of Others	Neel Mukherjee	his
295	He has to do his old trick of twisting his thumb to its most extreme possible to prevent himself from adding, ‘Not you or your type.’	The Lives of Others	Neel Mukherjee	his
296	He pokes a sharp knife at one corner of the sickle and with a quick, sharp dig-and-twist movement loosens a little bit of skin, enough so that the pinch formed of his thumb and forefinger has a purchase on the flap.	The Lives of Others	Neel Mukherjee	his
297	Nash shook his hand and then pointed at Rapp with his thumb.	THE LAST MAN	Vince Flynn	his
298	He pointed at the station chief, snapped his fingers, and then hooked his thumb toward the door.	THE LAST MAN	Vince Flynn	his
299	“We’re shooters,” Rapp said, waving his thumb back and forth between Hurley and himself.	THE LAST MAN	Vince Flynn	his
300	“This is nice stuff,” said Jack, taking the paper and feeling the top sheet with his thumb.	The Feud	Thomas Berger	his
301	As soon as the door closed behind them, Junior swung around and put his thumb to his nose and blew a raspberry at the station.	The Feud	Thomas Berger	his
302	When he reached the highway he went above the intersection a block or two and began to show his thumb to the cars that passed.	The Feud	Thomas Berger	his
303	He gave Jim a nasty, secret smile and took his gum out of his mouth and rolled it between his thumb and forefinger.	The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford	Jean Stafford	his
304	He ran his thumb along the edge of the photo.	THE BRIDGE	Karen Kingsbury	his
305	He ran his thumbs along the sides of her hands.	THE BRIDGE	Karen Kingsbury	his
306	He loosened the flap with his thumb and willed his hands to be still.	THE BRIDGE	Karen Kingsbury	his
307	He ran his thumbs along her hands, his eyes locked on hers.	THE BRIDGE	Karen Kingsbury	his
308	He ran his thumb along her cheekbone, lost in her eyes.	THE BRIDGE	Karen Kingsbury	his
309	I asked how much money had been allocated by Baghdad, and he held his thumb and finger up in a zero.	The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq	George Packer	his
310	Luke, agitated, was flicking his thumbnail against his teeth.	St. Urbain's Horseman	Mordecai Richler	his
311	We were pushing our tongues into each other’s mouths as far as we could and I could just feel the edge of his thumb and fingers on my panties.	St. Urbain's Horseman	Mordecai Richler	his
312	“Exactly the way he stood there with his thumbs in his pistol belt.	St. Urbain's Horseman	Mordecai Richler	his
313	Sidney, her youngest, still sucked his thumb.	St. Urbain's Horseman	Mordecai Richler	his
314	Not tying his arm, not coating his thumb with hot mustard.	St. Urbain's Horseman	Mordecai Richler	his
315	Simpson spread his palms and touched the tips of his thumbs together as if to frame the monogram.	MRS. GRANT AND MADAME JULE	Jennifer Chiaverini	his
316	He glimpsed the tattoo he had given himself as a child, his initials etched upon the back of his left hand between his thumb and forefinger, his defiant, indelible rebuttal to all those who would deny his right to bear the proud name of Booth.	MRS. GRANT AND MADAME JULE	Jennifer Chiaverini	his
317	Harold was frowning, picking at the skin around his thumbnail.	MRS. EVERYTHING	Jennifer Weiner	his
318	Finally, he brushed her cheek with his thumb.	MRS. EVERYTHING	Jennifer Weiner	his
319	“Get in,” he ordered, jerking his thumb.	MARRIED LOVERS	Jackie Collins	his
320	He carried his black alpaca coat hanging from his thumb down over the back of his shoulder.	Losing Battles	Eudora Welty	his
321	As they passed Banner School, he faced the window-packed schoolhouse, laid his thumb to his nose, and played on all his fingers at the imprisoned children.	Losing Battles	Eudora Welty	his
322	He could remember that each of his thumbs had been slowly, almost gently, twisted inward to the palms until the bone above the first knuckle was screwed tight into the joint and at last the ball of the bone was sprung from the socket with a loud popping sound.	House Made of Dawn	N. Scott Momaday	his
323	There was a black metate by the door, the coarse, igneous grain of the shallow bowl forever bleached with meal, and in the ashes of the fire were several ears and cobs of corn, each no bigger than his thumb, charred and brittle, but whole and hard as wood.	House Made of Dawn	N. Scott Momaday	his
324	Ferrason: I assure you, sir … The Marshal lifted his thumb and for five seconds the wind surged and caterwauled in the park.	Gossip from the Forest	Thomas Keneally	his
325	He took a wing collar from his suitcase and rubbed it with his thumb, speaking dreamily.	Gossip from the Forest	Thomas Keneally	his
326	The acid from its pores stung his thumb.	Gossip from the Forest	Thomas Keneally	his
327	He turned over on his side to face her and he was filled with an aching love for the thing they had destroyed and tears were coming down her face and he wiped them away with his thumbs.	FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE	Taffy Brodesser-Akner	his
328	Morelli had his hands under my shirt and supposedly was installing the wire, but his thumb kept tracing a line across the tip of my breast.	FEARLESS FOURTEEN	Janet Evanovich	his
329	He tapped his chest with his thumb.	DELUSION IN DEATH	J D Robb	his
330	He cut a reed from the New Year narcissus and blew tunes between his thumbs.	China Men	Maxine Hong Kingston	his
331	He held out a piece of sugar; he cupped a grassblade between his thumbs and whistled.	China Men	Maxine Hong Kingston	his
332	He hooked his thumbs on his belt under his jacket.	CHASING DARKNESS	Robert Crais	his
333	They gained on him easily, and when they were almost upon him, he stopped running and threw up his arm, pointing with his thumb toward Ebbensville.	And Then We Heard the Thunder	John Killens	his
334	A shard of glass was lodged in the skin at the base of his thumb, and as we watched he deftly plucked it out, looked at it, and dropped it on the floor where he ground it under his heel.	An Unfinished Season	Ward Just	his
335	Now he moved his foot over the scar in the parquet where he had ground the shard of glass that had torn his thumb; and I thought I saw a smile.	An Unfinished Season	Ward Just	his
336	He extracted his Havana from its silver tube and rolled it between his thumb and forefinger, testing density.	An Unfinished Season	Ward Just	his
337	He rubbed the grass between his thumb and forefinger.	AGENDA 21	Glenn Beck with Harriet Parke	his
338	He kept rubbing the leaf between his thumb and his finger.	AGENDA 21	Glenn Beck with Harriet Parke	his
339	He rubbed his thumb over it, then handed it back, and I put it deep into the mat.	AGENDA 21	Glenn Beck with Harriet Parke	his
340	Percy executed the man after extracting a confession by hanging him from his thumbs.	A VOYAGE LONG AND STRANGE	Tony Horwitz	his
341	“No,” said Tagliavia, the prosperous-looking Maresciallo of Finance, hooking his thumbs in his waistcoat, “you did not forget to do it because you did not know you were supposed to do it.	A Bell for Adano	John Hersey	his
342	Gargano the Two-Hands made two circles with his thumbs and forefingers and put the circles up to his eyes and peered through them at the picture.	A Bell for Adano	John Hersey	his
343	Gargano stepped forward and said: “What the Mister Mayor wishes to say is that the eyes”—Gargano made those circles with his thumbs and forefingers and put them up to his own eyes—”the eyes of the portrait are honest.”	A Bell for Adano	John Hersey	his