Standing in our giant supermarkets, we feel more lost than someone standing in a forest ten thousand years ago. The Omnivore's Dilemma 2006-04-11T00:00:00Z

As they fight, they will remember a time they battled long ago, when the world was simpler. Norse Mythology 2017-02-07T00:00:00Z

“Just started a few days ago,” I said. Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus 2017-09-05T00:00:00Z

"Of course not! I made up me mind not to, long ago! Well, some time ago, anyway." The Shakespeare Stealer 1998-05-01T00:00:00Z

“A year ago it would have been different.” The Book of Unknown Americans 2014-06-03T00:00:00Z

“You just came out of the hospital ten days ago,” Milo reminded him reprovingly. Catch-22 1961-11-10T00:00:00Z

The shuttle rocks back and forth from the wind, and the trees that looked tiny a moment ago are suddenly life-sized. The Last Cuentista 2021-10-12T00:00:00Z

She also had Finn curled up beside her, with his head drooping against her arm—he’d fallen asleep an hour ago. The Strangers 2019-04-02T00:00:00Z

Once he got out of the stable he’d head straight down the road afore he cut off into the woods heading for the lake he first took me to ’bout a year ago. Elijah of Buxton 2007-08-06T00:00:00Z

“I want to tell them a little what HeLa means to me as a young cancer researcher, and how grateful I am for their donation years ago,” he wrote. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 2010-02-02T00:00:00Z

The meadow grasses, which just a moment ago had brushed his shoulders, now seemed flattened to a broad green bowl. Pax 2016-02-02T00:00:00Z

“This photograph was taken six months ago, in Cuba,” Mrs. Jones was saying. Stormbreaker 2000-09-04T00:00:00Z

A year ago, he would have gone down there himself and tried to give pointers. The Parker Inheritance 2018-03-27T00:00:00Z

And he wrote this almost a hundred years ago? Blended 2018-10-30T00:00:00Z

Long ago, the sky was so low that you might bump your head on it if you were not careful, and so low that people sometimes disappeared right up into it. Walk Two Moons 1994-06-30T00:00:00Z

I had figured that out days ago thinking that it wasn’t a part of my personal history I should hesitate over if someone asked. Kindred 1979-06-01T00:00:00Z

His first word years ago had been didi, or “older sister.” Tiger Boy 2015-10-01T00:00:00Z

Perhaps it was the memory of this post-card, lost long ago in some forgotten book, that made me sympathise with his defensive attitude. Rebecca 1938-08-01T00:00:00Z

A minute later, Richard came in and said, “Didn’t I leave that extra pair of work shoes here a few months ago? I know they were in the closet, but I can’t find them anywhere.” When You Reach Me 2009-07-14T00:00:00Z

“Well, the Daily Mail has always had a bit of an affinity for airing our dirty laundry. They, er, they gave my sister this nickname years ago. ‘ Red, White & Royal Blue 2019-05-14T00:00:00Z

Africa’s long occupation before the colonization of Eurasia a million years ago might have counted for nothing anyway, because protohumans were at such a primitive stage then. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies 1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

All three agreed, as they quickly informed Hrdlicka, that the discovery admitted only one possible explanation: thousands of years ago, a Pleistocene hunter had speared a bison. 1491 2005-10-10T00:00:00Z

“It was here a second ago, I promise!” Root Magic 2021-01-05T00:00:00Z

Dad was injured at the Choke years ago, when a bomb dropped on his unit. Red Queen 2015-02-10T00:00:00Z

“We was a weak and puny country eighty odd years ago when the great-granddaddy of us young ’uns got mixed up in a rebel’s fight. Across Five Aprils 1964-01-01T00:00:00Z

Her salt was finished, but she had made a substitute some time ago. A Girl Named Disaster 1996-01-01T00:00:00Z

“And I just have this sinking feeling it’s all going to fall apart, now that we finally have the orchestra and the sets. Like, sorry, but the sets should have been done a week ago.” Leah on the Offbeat 2018-04-24T00:00:00Z

I don’t really have a great-great-grandfather, like I told Webb years ago. Crash 1996-03-19T00:00:00Z

Not so hard I would die, and not so little I would be punished, as Moshe had told me so long ago. Prisoner B-3087 2013-03-01T00:00:00Z

“Your blood work showed a sudden drop in your medication levels about a week ago. Any idea why that might be?” Challenger Deep 2015-04-15T00:00:00Z

He can remember prices, to the cents, of cans of coffee he bought ten years ago. The Tipping Point 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z

One Sunday fifteen years ago he sent word to his wife by way of a Negro boy from his fishing camp on the Tensas River that he was staying down there and not coming back. Go Set a Watchman: A Novel 2015-07-14T00:00:00Z

Even hundreds of years ago, they mined coal here. The Hunger Games 2008-09-14T00:00:00Z

Not long ago, all these half-dead creatures around me had been people, I realized. Prisoner B-3087 2013-03-01T00:00:00Z

Black had proved twelve years ago that he didn’t mind murdering innocent people, and this time he had been facing five unharmed boys, four of whom were asleep. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban 1999-07-08T00:00:00Z

Two nights ago they had come in the dark, and from a different direction. Uglies 2005-02-08T00:00:00Z

I thought of Soraya asking me a few months ago what his voice sounded like. The Kite Runner 2003-05-01T00:00:00Z

And if there had been sunlight just moments ago, it suited them now to have stars, so they did. Strange the Dreamer 2017-03-28T00:00:00Z

She makes the night noise from long ago, a grumbly purr from deep within her chest. Willodeen 2021-09-07T00:00:00Z

It is the same one Maddie and I took off from six weeks ago. Code Name Verity 2012-05-15T00:00:00Z

Fortunately the floor of the tunnel was even, and Gregor had only finished up track a few weeks ago. Gregor the Overlander 2003-09-01T00:00:00Z

"When I made my report two days ago," he continued, "I deliberately refrained from mentioning that we have the remains of the plane—and we also have the pilot, who is quite alive and kicking!" Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia 2019-10-01T00:00:00Z

Longstreet thought: he was not all that white- haired a year ago. The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War 1974-01-01T00:00:00Z

Jason, Leo, and she had had an encounter with the maenads a few months ago and almost gotten torn to pieces. The Mark of Athena 2012-10-02T00:00:00Z

“He pulled it out of our family album a couple of weeks ago,” Audrey said, sounding put out. Keep It Together, Keiko Carter 2020-05-05T00:00:00Z

A thousand thousand years ago they had been alive, but now they were only pretty rocks. A Game of Thrones 1997-08-04T00:00:00Z

In fact, it is possible my bench companion of a while ago expected me to banter with him - in which case, I suppose I was something of a sorry disappointment. The Remains of the Day 1989-05-01T00:00:00Z

I had a shabby, tight-fitting khaki safari suit my parents had bought me two Christmases ago. Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography 1986-01-01T00:00:00Z

Years and years and years ago the buildings used to be fancy, Ty'ree says. Miracle's Boys 2000-04-23T00:00:00Z

A survivor of the brutal pogroms that had spread across Russia over a decade ago, Motke had seen the faces of the dead and broken everywhere he looked—his wife, his friends, his neighbors. The City Beautiful 2021-10-05T00:00:00Z

We grew up in this house together when we were children, even though we lost touch some years ago. Hurricane Child 2018-03-27T00:00:00Z

Hadn’t she heard him say so eleven years ago? In the Time of the Butterflies 1994-01-01T00:00:00Z

My mind still wanders back there, but not like it did a few months ago. Because of Mr. Terupt 2010-10-11T00:00:00Z

Terryl herself, after all, had gone after a bishop years ago. A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age 2014-09-23T00:00:00Z

The first “ paintings” were probably made in caves approximately 15,000 years ago. The Annotated Mona Lisa 1992-06-01T00:00:00Z

“What’s the plan for your next post? You were all fired up about all those magazines we saw a couple of weeks ago.” Watch Us Rise 2019-02-12T00:00:00Z

You see, long ago they had agreed not to hunt or harm one another during that hour. The Wild Robot 2016-04-05T00:00:00Z

He was faking his disappearance, and the challenge would be to find him, similar to the online murder mystery he’d planned two Halloweens ago. Book Scavenger 2015-06-02T00:00:00Z

I dreamed about Rob a couple of nights ago. Tears of a Tiger 1994-01-01T00:00:00Z

“You arrived six years ago. So you’ve been fishing for all that time.” Messenger 2004-04-26T00:00:00Z

Nearly half a century ago, a professor of entomology at Washington State College, A. L. Melander, asked the now purely rhetorical question, “Can insects become resistant to sprays?” Silent Spring 1962-09-27T00:00:00Z

“That was a long time ago,” Ishmael answered. Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel 1994-09-12T00:00:00Z

“I think I know Mrs. Haines. She joined us around a month ago. Lives about three blocks from here and goes to Mount Sinai Church, yes?” Betty Before X 2018-01-02T00:00:00Z

A pang hurts my chest, but the memory doesn’t overwhelm me as it did a few weeks ago. Insurgent 2012-05-01T00:00:00Z

“You realize our fifteen-minute break was over half an hour ago, right?” Goodbye Stranger 2015-08-04T00:00:00Z

“Once, long ago, Zimbabwe was attacked by spirits from Mozambique,” Mother explained. The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm 1994-04-01T00:00:00Z

The pile of clothes from last week is still there, and it looks dustier and more forlorn than it did a few days ago. The Girl on the Train 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z

Lord Stannis himself was still on the march, but his vanguard had appeared two nights ago during the black of the moon. A Clash of Kings 1998-11-16T00:00:00Z

I still think of this flag as new, although they changed it long ago. Cat's Eye 1988-09-01T00:00:00Z

She had been the brewer’s wife, but he had drowned two years ago. The Name of the Wind 2007-03-27T00:00:00Z

Most of my friends' parents drank themselves stupid or yelled too much or had stopped loving each other a long time ago, and that was just the way of things, no big deal. Allegiant 2013-10-22T00:00:00Z

He could remember Father’s hand holding it out long ago. The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm 1994-04-01T00:00:00Z

How long ago, an angel who kept the herd of cows in the sky married an earth girl, the Spinning Maid, and took her to live with him in Heaven. Dragonwings 1975-01-01T00:00:00Z

And I have a jewelry box that Grandma bought me a few years ago. Finding Junie Kim 2021-05-04T00:00:00Z

I left the kiddy pool behind many moons ago. Bronx Masquerade 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z

“You two should’ve been in the underground auditorium five minutes ago. I suggest you change into your uniforms, make those beds, and hightail it down there.” Amari and the Night Brothers 2021-01-19T00:00:00Z

“The name the founders gave this preserve centuries ago. A refuge for mystical creatures, a stewardship passed down from caretaker to caretaker over the years.” Fablehaven 2006-07-30T00:00:00Z

“My whole family, actually. A long time ago now.” An Ember in the Ashes 2015-04-28T00:00:00Z

“Quincy, three years ago, I played tennis twice a week.” Girls Like Us 2014-05-27T00:00:00Z

Ever since Galileo first peered at the moon through his telescope, nearly four hundred years ago, we had been gathering facts about its pock-marked surface. Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story 1976-01-01T00:00:00Z

Down south already feels like a long time ago but the stories in my head take me back there, set me down in Daddy's garden where the sun is always shining. Brown Girl Dreaming 2014-08-28T00:00:00Z

“Though that was some time ago. And you are correct, this place is very French, I think that’s part of the charm. So many places here don’t bother to be charming.” The Night Circus 2011-09-13T00:00:00Z

“Me and my mama got here like three or four years ago.” Anger Is a Gift 2018-05-22T00:00:00Z

But as Hanako had picked up and held those rocks that had formed so many years ago, she’d felt comforted, steady. A Place to Belong 2019-05-14T00:00:00Z

It was like a flip book of his talent—at the front were the sketches he’d done about three years ago, still a bit blocky and dull from their creator’s lack of experience. When Dimple Met Rishi 2017-05-30T00:00:00Z

It seemed so long ago, but I still recalled the different names of the dance nights: “Back to School,” “Pens Down,” “Bob Marley Night,” and many more. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier 2007-02-13T00:00:00Z

Our modern acorn squashes and summer squashes are derived from those American squashes domesticated thousands of years ago. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies 1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

“I had a girlfriend, two summers ago” “I know. I knew all along.” We Were Liars 2014-05-13T00:00:00Z

A week ago, right at the beginning of the heat wave, the air conditioner in his mother’s attic office had broken. The Lemonade War 2007-04-23T00:00:00Z

"You kissed me, just a few days ago, in front of the Green Police." Girl in the Blue Coat 2016-04-05T00:00:00Z

JING-MEI WOO Best Quality Five months ago, after a crab dinner celebrating Chinese New Year, my mother gave me my “life’s importance,” a jade pendant on a gold chain. The Joy Luck Club 1989-01-01T00:00:00Z

We were about to go inside Mr. Mack’s when three girls who had been in Vonetta’s third-grade class two years ago came out laughing and chewing on long red licorice. Gone Crazy in Alabama 2015-04-21T00:00:00Z

She hasn’t said a word to me about Charlie, even though only a year ago, she was clearly in love with him. Please Ignore Vera Dietz 2012-10-12T00:00:00Z

He had had the same dream that night as a week ago, and once again he had awakened before it ended. The Alchemist 1988-01-01T00:00:00Z

It’s full of pictures of Khalil, from the time he was a curly-haired baby up until a few weeks ago with friends I don’t recognize. The Hate U Give 2017-02-28T00:00:00Z

Only maybe he hit me a long time ago, he thought, And I just now felt it, and he thought Hurry. The Sound and the Fury 1929-01-01T00:00:00Z

A few years ago, Percy and she had gone on a quest in Daedalus’s labyrinth—a secret network of tunnels and rooms, heavily enchanted and trapped, which ran under all the cities of America. The Mark of Athena 2012-10-02T00:00:00Z

My old lady passed two years ago, and ever since then I don’t know what’s been happening with my life. Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago 1997-01-01T00:00:00Z

‘It was only a dream,’ said Frodo, ‘but it suddenly came back to me. I had quite forgotten it. It came some time ago; after I left the Shire, I think.’ The Fellowship of the Ring 1954-07-29T00:00:00Z

Celia began telling me about when she and Rafael and her boys had come here from Panamá, fifteen years ago, after the invasion. The Book of Unknown Americans 2014-06-03T00:00:00Z

Whatever affliction he might be hiding, she could see no sign of it, only slender lock-pick’s fingers, and a shiny rope of scar tissue from some long ago street fight. Six of Crows 2015-09-29T00:00:00Z

A long time ago, even before the time of my grandmother, the emperor called all the kings of his land to his Spring Festival celebration. When the Sea Turned to Silver 2016-10-04T00:00:00Z

“Three nights ago he slipped into the Labyrinth. Juniper watched him go. It appears you may have been right about him.” The Battle of the Labyrinth 2008-05-06T00:00:00Z

Then he brought up the fist of his free hand to punch me once, and again as the patroller had done so long ago. Kindred 1979-06-01T00:00:00Z

Recalling the delay they had suffered a year ago, this time they had arrived early and would be leaving before the coming two-day event prevented their departure. Son 2012-10-02T00:00:00Z

About a hundred years ago, someone added a wraparound porch with enough ginger-bread trim to look like a lace collar. The View From Saturday 1996-09-01T00:00:00Z

Arya didn't really believe that, and anyhow it had all happened a long time ago. A Clash of Kings 1998-11-16T00:00:00Z

Tiger, the kitten from that terrible Christmas six years ago, was the fat and clever ruler of wherever they lived. Forged by Fire 1997-01-01T00:00:00Z

“A month ago she tried to crawl into bed with me and Zooey at two in the morning.” We Are the Ants 2016-01-19T00:00:00Z

The sharp, reverberating hoofbeats that moments ago had mixed into the surging sound of the river were now a crescendo upon me. Bless Me, Ultima 1972-01-01T00:00:00Z

The new linguistic skills that modern Sapiens acquired about seventy millennia ago enabled them to gossip for hours on end. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

There was no knowing which to expect on any given day, and indeed there was little to choose between them, as Ranofer had long ago learned. The Golden Goblet 1961-04-24T00:00:00Z

Seventy hours ago, I gained clearance to search the Internet and found out as much about Day as I could. Legend 2011-11-29T00:00:00Z

It feels like it did all those years ago, when I had such a clear understanding of happiness. Starfish 2017-09-26T00:00:00Z

It was that night’s nerves of steel that landed me in France six weeks ago. Code Name Verity 2012-05-15T00:00:00Z

Lloyd: But we started really hanging out about three years ago. Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago 1997-01-01T00:00:00Z

I exhale a breath I feel like I’ve been holding since I got here two weeks ago. Five Feet Apart 2018-11-20T00:00:00Z

I had long ago been trained in judo. Black Like Me 1961-01-01T00:00:00Z

He’d looked at the banking app less than an hour ago. Millionaires for the Month 2020-09-01T00:00:00Z

Something like that could’ve really come in handy a few weeks ago. Witchlings 2022-04-05T00:00:00Z

I was the only boy who practised it seriously, and it was not quite so simple a business fifty years ago as it is today. Boy: Tales of a Childhood 1984-01-01T00:00:00Z

She’d forgotten all language long ago, or maybe had never known any. Grendel 1971-01-01T00:00:00Z

“About two hundred yards down the street. Tyree captured this about five minutes ago.” Anger Is a Gift 2018-05-22T00:00:00Z

“Binding or loosing. But that was a long time ago.” American Gods 2011-06-21T00:00:00Z

“Boy, bye. I know my stuff. Sonny’s momma is a beautician. She taught me ages ago. I used to hook my baby dolls up.” On the Come Up 2019-02-05T00:00:00Z

All that had taken place around that black lake seemed like an old nightmare now; had it really happened, and only hours ago? Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 2005-07-16T00:00:00Z

But God—and I felt this even then, so long ago, on that tremendous floor, unwillingly—is white. The Fire Next Time 1963-01-21T00:00:00Z

When these amateurs heard that the ancestors of Indians must have come to the Americas thousands of years ago, a surprising number of them decided to hunt for the evidence that would prove it. 1491 2005-10-10T00:00:00Z

“My brother was diagnosed with diabetes three years ago.” Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence 2022-03-22T00:00:00Z

It seemed like a hundred years ago that Dana Matherson had tried to strangle him inside the janitor’s closet, but it had happened only that afternoon. Hoot 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z

I ask, completely nonchalant, as if I wasn’t hiding in the girls’ room two periods ago, waiting for him to pass by. Ask the Passengers 2012-10-23T00:00:00Z

“Just think, Jamie, Michelangelo himself touched this. Over four hundred years ago.” From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler 1967-01-01T00:00:00Z

‘Burning Man showed up a few minutes ago,’ said Coach Hedge. Blood of Olympus 2014-10-07T00:00:00Z

Four decades ago, employers were free to discriminate explicitly on the basis of race; today employers feel free to discriminate against those who bear the prison label—i.e., those labeled criminals by the state. The New Jim Crow 2010-01-05T00:00:00Z

This nightmare had begun three months ago, when Peris went across the river. Uglies 2005-02-08T00:00:00Z

He could tell from the whole feel of the place, which simply seemed to sag, as if all hope had been given up long ago—if there had ever been any to begin with. Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream 1990-01-01T00:00:00Z

She said she was long ago inured to shocks, and insisted on having P. D. rescue me. Black Like Me 1961-01-01T00:00:00Z

‘I do. I made up my mind months ago, and I haven’t changed it.’ The Fellowship of the Ring 1954-07-29T00:00:00Z

Her foot edged forward, and then she thought, He’s dead, he’s dead, the sweet old bear, he died a long time ago. A Clash of Kings 1998-11-16T00:00:00Z

But if I wasn’t the same person I had been six years ago, how could I expect her to be? The Darkest Minds 2012-12-18T00:00:00Z

A week ago, I was at this house, reminding myself how to behave on a social call. Girl in the Blue Coat 2016-04-05T00:00:00Z

It was about a man who lived more than a hundred years ago named John Merrick who was terribly deformed. Wonder 2012-02-14T00:00:00Z

Using their previously calculated rate of genetic change as a standard, they estimated when the original group had migrated to the Americas: 22,414 to 29,545 years ago. 1491 2005-10-10T00:00:00Z

She left a pile of her things by the door: a comb, a square of polished silver that Ajarry had scrounged years ago, the pile of blue stones that Nag called her “Indian rocks.” The Underground Railroad: A Novel 2016-08-02T00:00:00Z

I feel how warm she is and remember how I noticed that at the party, eons ago. It’s Kind of a Funny Story 2006-04-02T00:00:00Z

Ten years ago, I would have argued strenuously against the central claim made here—namely, that something akin to a racial caste system currently exists in the United States. The New Jim Crow 2010-01-05T00:00:00Z

“He lived about a thousand years ago; for all we know, you could be.” Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets 1998-07-02T00:00:00Z

“Sammy. You are nuts, man. Weren’t you the guy who was telling me what a big coward he was just a little while ago? Anyway, that might be his wife in the car.” The Great Santini 1976-01-01T00:00:00Z

I remember being at her first birthday party, and it seemed only months ago. Atonement 2001-09-20T00:00:00Z

He’d woken up with this sword his first night at the Wolf House—two months ago? The Son of Neptune 2011-10-04T00:00:00Z

Once, five years ago, she had seen one of her own handmaids cruelly flogged. Tiger, Tiger 2004-10-04T00:00:00Z

And vet just a few months ago, I was feeling better, I was getting better. The Girl on the Train 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z

“I wish I remembered for you. But I don’t. Your mother passed away a long time ago and my memory is as shattered as these buildings. I am sorry.” The Kite Runner 2003-05-01T00:00:00Z

Nurse Monica asked me five minutes ago, as she closed the door. It’s Kind of a Funny Story 2006-04-02T00:00:00Z

“A long time ago beekeepers always covered their hives when someone in their family died,” said August. The Secret Life of Bees 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z

“I don’t know, Finn, maybe the Google pictures of the other street were taken so long ago, those fences weren’t built yet,” Natalie said. The Strangers 2019-04-02T00:00:00Z

Not long ago, my mom asked me who I am. On the Come Up 2019-02-05T00:00:00Z

“First time I ever had one of these was when I was in Jamaica, two summers ago,” said Bunny reminiscently. The Secret History 1992-10-16T00:00:00Z

“That seems like such a long time ago now,” replied Zafoona with a deep sigh. Shooting Kabul 2010-06-22T00:00:00Z

‘It is kingsfoil, Sir,’ he said; ‘but not fresh, I fear. It must have been culled two weeks ago at the least. I hope it will serve, Sir?’ The Return of the King 1955-10-20T00:00:00Z

“That is a good question. As you know, Luna is a bit of a mystery. As was Xan, ever so long ago.” The Girl Who Drank the Moon 2016-08-09T00:00:00Z

A month ago, Danny Brooks, the eighth grader with a scoliosis brace, was picked six slots ahead of me for a round of dodgeball. Better Nate Than Ever 2013-02-05T00:00:00Z

Charles had figured out, looking at the finches and mocking birds from the Galapagos all those years ago, that certain variations helped the birds survive. Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z

“A few months ago Daddy said you quit the store. I haven’t seen you since.” The Hate U Give 2017-02-28T00:00:00Z

Worse, I’ve never seen her lose her temper the way she did three nights ago. An Ember in the Ashes 2015-04-28T00:00:00Z

Doha hadn’t seen Gunwoo since the day at the pond, which felt like ages ago. Finding Junie Kim 2021-05-04T00:00:00Z

And so does his laugh, and the passenger seat of his car, and his favorite hoodie, with the string lost in the laundry long ago. A Heart in a Body in the World 2018-09-18T00:00:00Z

Mrs. Dalton composed her face, and, with tears on her cheeks, answered, “When I was a girl, years ago. ...” Native Son 1940-03-01T00:00:00Z

Although her fingers were bent with arthritis now, and I could see her veins, I pictured her young hands covering her young face so many years ago. Auggie & Me 2015-07-20T00:00:00Z

One might initially wonder how a linguist, studying only modern languages whose unwritten ancestral forms remain unknown, could ever figure out whether Austronesians living on Taiwan 6,000 years ago had pigs. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies 1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

“Else we would long ago have wiped out guilt, and the world would not be filled with sad, punished people.” East of Eden 1952-09-01T00:00:00Z

His mother had told him years ago: There is no arguing with Grandmother. The Son of Neptune 2011-10-04T00:00:00Z

As we have seen, that all began to change about fifty years ago, with the growth of the industrial food chain. The Omnivore's Dilemma 2006-04-11T00:00:00Z

So long ago that the mountains of those days have worn away and the deepest lakes have become dry land. Norse Mythology 2017-02-07T00:00:00Z

On Mars, and elsewhere in the solar system, we see features that could not be produced today, landscapes carved hundreds of millions or billions of years ago when the planetary climate was probably very different. Cosmos 1980-01-01T00:00:00Z

‘Yes. The obvious thing to do, of course, if one could. I tried long ago; but I have managed it at last.’ The Fellowship of the Ring 1954-07-29T00:00:00Z

“I was here five days ago,” I remind him. What If It's Us 2018-10-09T00:00:00Z

All would long ago have been spent, if they had not dared to follow the orc-road. The Return of the King 1955-10-20T00:00:00Z

He couldn’t find a decent job, and as of three weeks ago, he makes pizzas for minimum wage. On the Come Up 2019-02-05T00:00:00Z

Claire remembered a time some years ago when the weekly report showed that her mother’s weight had risen slightly. Son 2012-10-02T00:00:00Z

“You told us a second ago that your mother died,” she said slowly. Beasts of Prey 2021-09-28T00:00:00Z

“Years ago we in the South made our women into ladies. Then the War came and made the ladies into ghosts. So what else can we do, being gentlemen, but listen to them being ghosts?” Absalom, Absalom! 1936-01-01T00:00:00Z

Not that long ago, I went to the wishing well downtown. Hope Springs 2021-08-10T00:00:00Z

“Her husband died. Years ago. Before they moved here.” The Strangers 2019-04-02T00:00:00Z

“Wasn’t that long ago folks didn’t have any sugar. No coffee or tea, either.” Fever 1793 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z

I guess that would be over seventy years ago now. Life Is So Good 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z

“We met before. Years ago, over at Janine’s. You were about his age, basically.” The Stars Beneath Our Feet 2017-09-19T00:00:00Z

“Lucy, I know you can’t adopt Cutie Pi. I’ve seen you 2 together. If your family was able to take in a dog, he would have gone home with you weeks ago.” The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl 2018-05-01T00:00:00Z

“I feel we’ve lost energy. I don’t think we’re as determined as we were twenty years ago when King died. We have become less tolerant and less supportive of those who are less fortunate.” Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream 1990-01-01T00:00:00Z

Mr. Canton wore brown shoes that looked like someone shined them ten minutes ago. Orbiting Jupiter 2015-10-06T00:00:00Z

“Anyway,” she continued, “he’s been there for forever, but a couple of months ago, he just wasn’t there anymore.” Auggie & Me 2015-07-20T00:00:00Z

“A few weeks ago,” she said, “after his condition worsened. We’re lucky some friends were able to let us use this house.” Krik? Krak! 2015-12-15T00:00:00Z

A few years ago, however, the University of Michigan decided to look closely at how the law school’s minority students had fared after they graduated. Outliers 2008-11-18T00:00:00Z

"A year ago Robert was king, and the realm was at peace," declared Jarman Buckwell, the square stolid man who commanded the scouts. A Clash of Kings 1998-11-16T00:00:00Z

Instead, flowered cacti not there a moment ago line a path into a ravine, just like a cuento I know. The Last Cuentista 2021-10-12T00:00:00Z

Funny how only two weeks ago she would have preferred it that way. Book Scavenger 2015-06-02T00:00:00Z

Here’s a memory, which like most memories is imperfect and subjective—collected long ago like a beach pebble and slipped into the pocket of my mind. Becoming 2018-11-13T00:00:00Z

“How long ago did they leave? I could catch up. I could—” What? Mockingjay 2010-08-24T00:00:00Z

In fact, after my first run of visits to Mrs. de Roo five years ago, by the time my hay fever began everyone thought my stammer was cured. Black Swan Green 2006-04-10T00:00:00Z

It hadn’t been very long ago, I reminded myself, that I had been in their shoes. Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story 1976-01-01T00:00:00Z

And the fact that this place had been under water a million years ago didn’t exactly help me now. The Battle of the Labyrinth 2008-05-06T00:00:00Z

Years ago, the schools on the other side of Levittown, the upper end, had substantial numbers of Jewish students, but I was one of no more than ten Jewish students in my graduating class. Drama High 2013-09-26T00:00:00Z

The Fate held up the snippet of blue yam—and I knew it was the same one I’d seen four years ago, the lifeline I’d watched them snip. The Last Olympian 2009-05-05T00:00:00Z

For an illiterate immigrant who came to New York years ago with nothing but $100 in his pocket and a willingness to work etched on his heart, could any words have been sweeter to say? Class Matters 2005-09-02T00:00:00Z

If even a little thing had gone differently 2,500 years ago, none of us would be here today. Cosmos 1980-01-01T00:00:00Z

Long, long ago, even the Holy People suffered from this. Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z

The second samosa had been eaten long ago. Homeless Bird 2000-03-01T00:00:00Z

My skin buzzed, like it was crawling with microscopic organisms that had been accumulating steadily since my last shower weeks ago. Endangered 2012-10-01T00:00:00Z

I explain my mission in Minneapolis, although it turns out her niece has already briefed her, and ask her to tell me about her move to Florida ten years ago. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America 2001-01-01T00:00:00Z

But Montag was gone, hidden in the safety of the dark alley for which he had set out on a long journey, an hour or was it a minute, ago? Fahrenheit 451 1953-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Two years ago a young gentleman E’lir decided it would be better to inform the constable than to settle his debt.” The Name of the Wind 2007-03-27T00:00:00Z

The thing that now suddenly struck Winston was that his mother’s death, nearly thirty years ago, had been tragic and sorrowful in a way that was no longer possible. 1984 1949-06-08T00:00:00Z

She had long ago given up the idea of running away to see new pictures, new faces, as Sammy had so often done. The Bluest Eye 1970-01-01T00:00:00Z

Ever since she joined Book Scavenger years ago and read all the stories shared on the forums about his San Francisco games, she’d hoped that somehow she’d get to participate in one in person. Book Scavenger 2015-06-02T00:00:00Z

Until two years ago, he and his sister Bianca had been frozen in time at a place called the Lotus Hotel and Casino. The Last Olympian 2009-05-05T00:00:00Z

King Walker’s station had obviously gone broke a long time ago. Song of Solomon 1977-01-01T00:00:00Z

Millions of years ago it was a river. The Martian 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

Webb dropped me off a minute ago, and I need to talk to Zoey before I head in. A High Five for Glenn Burke 2020-02-25T00:00:00Z

He got a few paragraphs into it, and then he realized that he had read it before—years ago, in the veterans’ hospital. Slaughterhouse-Five 1969-01-01T00:00:00Z

I knew this plant from long ago because my mother, who was surely not a curandera, often used it. Bless Me, Ultima 1972-01-01T00:00:00Z

The very same one he’d lost on that bus ride fifty-three years ago. A Tangle of Knots 2013-02-05T00:00:00Z

I did not know she had been trying to have a baby since the last miscarriage almost six years ago. Purple Hibiscus 2003-10-01T00:00:00Z

A number of modern-day nations, like Israel and Saudi Arabia, still use a modified lunar calendar, but 6,000 years ago the Egyptians came up with a better system. Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea 2000-02-07T00:00:00Z

In both, Indians took the first steps toward modern maize in southern Mexico, probably in the highlands, more than six thousand years ago. 1491 2005-10-10T00:00:00Z

The man told McWhorter that he had arrived from Germany two days ago and was going to see Mr. Hoover, the director of the FBI, in person in Washington, DC. Nazi Saboteurs 2019-12-03T00:00:00Z

Mere weeks ago, they’d stood on these very steps crowded among fourteen other Yaba boys who, like them, had spent their whole lives dreaming of becoming Sons of the Six. Beasts of Prey 2021-09-28T00:00:00Z

I’d had years of staring at ceilings from my bedroom to the ICU, and so I’d long ago found the most hurtful ways to imagine my own illness. The Fault in Our Stars 2012-01-10T00:00:00Z

“Don’t tell me what I don’t know. I heard my foster folk talk about this five years ago.” Girls Like Us 2014-05-27T00:00:00Z

“You're right. I arrived here close to seven years ago. But I had known you long before then. Back in the community where you had grown up.” Son 2012-10-02T00:00:00Z

Could they have somehow spread even farther since I looked in the mirror a few minutes ago? How to Disappear Completely 2020-04-28T00:00:00Z

“It was my father, the former king of the City of Bright Moonlight, who gave the Paper away over sixty years ago,” the king said. When the Sea Turned to Silver 2016-10-04T00:00:00Z

He had been to North Hill once before, a long time ago when he was four. As Brave As You 2016-05-03T00:00:00Z

There wasn’t a context he could imagine where Njemile’s moms would be uncomfortable with Moss talking about a guy who flirted with him; Wanda had long ago been accepting of him being gay. Anger Is a Gift 2018-05-22T00:00:00Z

The system of extended-family clans, of Hearths and Domains, though still vaguely discernible in the Commensal structure, was “nationalized” several hundred years ago in Orgoreyn. The Left Hand of Darkness 1969-03-01T00:00:00Z

But this one’s brother was gleaned just two years ago…. Scythe 2016-11-22T00:00:00Z

“What was the binding that Master Kilvin used just a moment ago?” The Name of the Wind 2007-03-27T00:00:00Z

I bet those kids were rescued a long time ago, and we didn't even bother looking it up, he thought. The Strangers 2019-04-02T00:00:00Z

I wonder for a second if anything I see was left behind by my family thirty or so years ago. You Bring the Distant Near 2017-09-12T00:00:00Z

“You know what I mean. I mean, you left hours ago. I thought I was in for an evening run.” The Marrow Thieves 2017-05-10T00:00:00Z

And then Axel sees another clue, a feather, like the one Frank brought him two weeks ago. A Bird Will Soar 2021-10-19T00:00:00Z

But then Mama smiled, laughed, and said, “He wrote it a week ago.” Anya and the Dragon 2019-09-24T00:00:00Z

Another famous Frenchman was Jules Verne, who was born about a hundred and fifty years ago. Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story 1976-01-01T00:00:00Z

Is what happened like the mutinies that happened on ships long ago? The Last Cuentista 2021-10-12T00:00:00Z

That was close bn three hundred years ago, when the Seven Kingdoms were kingdoms, and not mere provinces of a greater realm. A Game of Thrones 1997-08-04T00:00:00Z

Long ago, Jerrie determined she wasn't a talker; she was a doer. Women in Space 2014-02-01T00:00:00Z

"But something come back to you a minute ago," Alys said, "when you breathed the tea." Son 2012-10-02T00:00:00Z

“Eight months ago. Yeah. I thought you were talking about the other day.” Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close 2005-04-01T00:00:00Z

I knew exactly why my stomach felt this way—it had felt this way ever since a certain girl with colorful braces had walked into La Cocina three weeks ago. The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora 2017-05-16T00:00:00Z

The town had been abandoned years ago but they walked the littered streets carefully, the boy holding on to his hand. The Road 2006-09-28T00:00:00Z

When I click on it, it takes me to Stella’s newest video, posted exactly three minutes ago. Five Feet Apart 2018-11-20T00:00:00Z

Then they were attacked by a gaggle of vampires, led by a cheerleader Annabeth had killed two years ago. The House of Hades 2013-10-08T00:00:00Z

“There, papa!—Now you must be satisfied—Our own dear Mrs. Weston, who is carefulness itself. Do not you remember what Mr. Perry said, so many years ago, when I had the measles? ‘ Emma 1815-12-23T00:00:00Z

“I’m sorry about a while ago—I don’t know what got into me,” he said. Black Like Me 1961-01-01T00:00:00Z

Cora’s fear from moments ago returned—Ridgeway had trained her well. The Underground Railroad: A Novel 2016-08-02T00:00:00Z

There was a time not too long ago when a man put out to sea and ceased to exist for two or three years or forever. Travels with Charley in Search of America 1962-01-01T00:00:00Z

He had grown up a bit since I’d last seen him, almost a year ago. Wonder 2012-02-14T00:00:00Z

“Freeware punched holes in that thing ages ago.” Burning Blue 2012-10-25T00:00:00Z

“It’s everywhere, on the radio a minute ago, just come through.” The Martian Chronicles 1950-01-01T00:00:00Z

The volcano grew up seven to ten million years ago, producing fierce eruptions and explosions of ash, which repeatedly wiped out the forests that grew on its slopes, until it attained a tremendous height. The Hot Zone 1994-01-01T00:00:00Z

This is the house Ashoke had brought Ashima to eighteen months ago, late one February night after her arrival at Logan Airport. The Namesake 2003-09-01T00:00:00Z

And so were his only weapons, the few gadgets that Smithers had given him four days—or was it four years?—ago. Stormbreaker 2000-09-04T00:00:00Z

I really only started to pay any attention at all when he happened to mention that until his retirement three years ago, he had been a butler of a nearby house. The Remains of the Day 1989-05-01T00:00:00Z

Some time ago she made Bubber a little play mandolin out of a cigar box with rubber bands, and that put the idea into her head. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter 1940-07-29T00:00:00Z

If it had been for a pet, that animal had died long ago. Shelter (Book One): A Mickey Bolitar Novel 2011-09-15T00:00:00Z

There was no discussion between them; it was as if the bugs had worked out this whole scenario long ago. Gregor the Overlander 2003-09-01T00:00:00Z

A moment ago, he was still faintly smiling. Insurgent 2012-05-01T00:00:00Z

A few minutes ago, I thought he was beautiful. An Ember in the Ashes 2015-04-28T00:00:00Z

‘But I thought,’ he stammered as Elrond turned towards him, ‘I thought that the fall of Gil-galad was a long age ago.’ The Fellowship of the Ring 1954-07-29T00:00:00Z

I mean, he gave me that file, that ancient file, a few days ago and told me to be sure to tell my English teacher about it. Saints and Misfits 2017-06-13T00:00:00Z

My friends and I had carried her on our backs to and from school for three months when she had broken her leg two years ago. Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution 1998-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Particularly? Let me remember, then, what he said as to that. His expression was, ‘a round score o’ year ago, and a’most directly after I took up wi’ Compeyson.’ Great Expectations 1861-08-01T00:00:00Z

Months ago, not long after Christmas, she went into the library to wake him from an afternoon sleep and saw a file open upon the desk. Atonement 2001-09-20T00:00:00Z

The high sun and the steaming heat reminded Roy of another bright afternoon not so long ago, in a place not so far off. Hoot 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z

He remembered a night weeks ago; looking through her bag for her wallet, to pay the Chinese food delivery man, he’d pulled out her diaphragm case. The Namesake 2003-09-01T00:00:00Z

The earth’s primordial ocean, which came into existence not long after the earth was formed, about four and a half billion years ago, may well have contained microscopic life forms based on rna. The Hot Zone 1994-01-01T00:00:00Z

North American researchers tended to scoff at the notion that some mysterious non-Indians had lived fifteen thousand years ago in the heart of Brazil, but South Americans, Pena among them, were less dismissive. 1491 2005-10-10T00:00:00Z

But after Mr. Evers got shot a week ago, lot a colored folks is frustrated in this town. The Help 2009-02-10T00:00:00Z

The ornate church building stood on land that long ago saw services held in a rude brush arbor and led by a former slave. The Best of Enemies 1996-04-01T00:00:00Z

“She’s gone. Her father took her home. His helicopter picked her up an hour ago.” Adrift 1986-01-01T00:00:00Z

A little while ago, I got up and dragged that heavy box out from under. In the Time of the Butterflies 1994-01-01T00:00:00Z

“How long ago was it?” he said, speaking more to himself than to Bernard. Brave New World 1932-01-01T00:00:00Z

Most of the things that matter were decided long ago—who you are, whom you married, what kind of life you lead. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything 2005-04-12T00:00:00Z

“Well, Mr. Secretary, I’m most impressed with how much the same things are as they were a year ago,” Ellsberg said. Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War 2015-09-22T00:00:00Z

I waited, breathing softly and listening, debating if I should tell Lily what had happened a few days ago—down at the Bakers’. It All Comes Down to This 2017-07-11T00:00:00Z

“Well, that’s what the computer said. I assume so. It left Washington several days ago, and the show opens next week.” Chasing Vermeer 2004-06-01T00:00:00Z

“Two days ago,” he said, putting it together. The Darkest Minds 2012-12-18T00:00:00Z

I thought of the baseball game, and I asked myself, Was it only last Sunday that it happened, only five days ago? The Chosen 1967-04-28T00:00:00Z

He came to a path, the dwindling ruins of a road of long ago. The Fellowship of the Ring 1954-07-29T00:00:00Z

It was about something that had happened for two minutes four hundred years ago, instead of everything that had happened since. Middlesex: A Novel 2002-06-05T00:00:00Z

He knows that the shells have been coming from the east, that six days ago the Americans were almost to Parame, so he moves Marie-Laure in that direction. All the Light We Cannot See 2014-05-06T00:00:00Z

"I came up with something a while ago. Spent a lot of time on it." The Martian 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

“The whole business was laid to rest years ago.” A Girl Named Disaster 1996-01-01T00:00:00Z

A few months ago I would not have dared to snap at my father. Divergent 2011-04-25T00:00:00Z

“I had this vision long ago,” she said. The Inquisitor's Tale 2016-09-27T00:00:00Z

Sefia was reminded of her old bedroom, from a long time ago. The Reader 2016-01-12T00:00:00Z

“Ever since I took some contaminated phenylthiamines about ten years ago. If I eat a couple of doughnuts or something I’m usually OK.” A Walk in the Woods 1997-11-01T00:00:00Z

Fourteen days ago we had to go up and relieve the front line. All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel 1929-01-01T00:00:00Z

Her hair, short and blond at the beach just months ago, was darker—and long enough for a ponytail, which swung behind her head as she ran up to me. Red Kayak 2004-09-23T00:00:00Z

It had been a frightening moment when two days ago she realized that the tundra was an ocean of grass on which she was circling around and around. Julie of the Wolves 1972-01-01T00:00:00Z

That’s been put on him, for the trial, even though they gave up wearing those years ago, when the sect wars first began; cassocks made them too conspicuous. The Handmaid's Tale 1985-01-01T00:00:00Z

Old Blunderbuss, as the newspapers call Mayor Carr, was the one that established Baltimore’s Negro patrol squads a few years ago, right after I arrived at Miss Preston’s. Dread Nation 2018-04-03T00:00:00Z

A day ago I was regular Ali, throwing jabs in the shower and shadow-boxing my own reflection in my mother's mirror. When I Was the Greatest 2014-01-07T00:00:00Z

“I was bound into a challenge almost thirty years ago,” Celia says. The Night Circus 2011-09-13T00:00:00Z

“He took Sohrab a month ago,” Zaman finally croaked, hands still shielding his face. The Kite Runner 2003-05-01T00:00:00Z

It feels like only days ago she placed it around my neck. The Last Cuentista 2021-10-12T00:00:00Z

I said, “It was writ ’bout a year ago, Mrs. Holton.” Elijah of Buxton 2007-08-06T00:00:00Z

Because when it comes right down to it, those poor peasants are a lot worse off today than they were fifty years ago. The House of the Spirits: A Novel 1982-01-01T00:00:00Z

Despite the benefits of fire, 150,000 years ago humans were still marginal creatures. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

I’m mumbling through a mouthful of horrible rye toast, toast that tastes like it was baked three years ago and set out in the sun. Better Nate Than Ever 2013-02-05T00:00:00Z

“One minute ago I was speaking on the telephone to a colleague in Droitwich. Abruptly, I was obliged to apologize, and terminate the conversation. Now. Who can guess the reason?” Black Swan Green 2006-04-10T00:00:00Z

Koffi had been only a few feet in front of him, just seconds ago; now he couldn’t see her. Beasts of Prey 2021-09-28T00:00:00Z

Though she’s been dead for over three years, Grandma didn’t start visiting me like this until two years ago. I'll Give You the Sun 2014-09-16T00:00:00Z

“My family used to live here a long time ago—up by Robinson farm. But we moved away.” Root Magic 2021-01-05T00:00:00Z

Not long ago, I reviewed a fascinating book for The New Yorker magazine. Blink 2005-01-11T00:00:00Z

We found out two months ago and decided not to tell you; we even censored personal messages. The Martian 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

Two days ago, he would have been jumping for joy. The Lemonade War 2007-04-23T00:00:00Z

Seven hundred years ago—or it may have been fifteen hundred according to Malory’s notation-—people took dreams as seriously as the psychiatrists do today, and Lancelot’s had been a disturbing one. The Once and Future King 1958-01-01T00:00:00Z

“A couple of months ago, Mrs. Ruiz’s only son had tried to hijack a plane in Havana to go to Miami. He was shot and killed by the airplane’s pilot.” Krik? Krak! 2015-12-15T00:00:00Z

It looks just like the one Quinton sent me weeks ago. Amari and the Night Brothers 2021-01-19T00:00:00Z

“Okay, it couldn’t have been that long ago. Maisie, help me out here.” The Sea in Winter 2021-01-05T00:00:00Z

If he were not here with us he would have shot himself long ago. All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel 1929-01-01T00:00:00Z

The woman I saw walking towards me a moment ago is just turning the corner; she’s wearing a deep-blue trench wrapped around her. The Girl on the Train 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Now I know,” Tantalus continued, raising his voice, “that these races were discontinued some years ago due to, ah, technical problems.” The Sea of Monsters 2006-04-01T00:00:00Z

“I don’t rightly know, Jacob. I woke up a few days ago and my feet was all floppy. Jes’ can’t feel ’em right.” Water for Elephants 2006-05-26T00:00:00Z

On that night, eight weeks ago, Bo had trailed alongside him with sleepy eyes. The Thief Lord 2002-09-01T00:00:00Z

“When I was a child,” Theodora said lazily, “—‘many years ago,’ Doctor, as you put it so tactfully—I was whipped for throwing a brick through a greenhouse roof. The Haunting of Hill House 1959-10-01T00:00:00Z

They had not spoken since Odenigbo drove to his house years ago to shout at him. Half of a Yellow Sun 2006-09-12T00:00:00Z

Some feeling was slowly returning to them, mostly a stinging, prickly heat that was like a painful mockery of the soothing warmth I had felt a minute ago when I was drifting off to sleep. The Name of the Wind 2007-03-27T00:00:00Z

With them he deduced the circumference of the Earth with an error of only a few percent, a remarkable achievement for 2,200 years ago. Cosmos 1980-01-01T00:00:00Z

They dragged themselves to the cellar, which was nothing more than a dirt room underground, built a century ago to store canned goods and potatoes. Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World 2018-03-06T00:00:00Z

He then looked at me and said, “Madiba, what have you been waiting for? We should have started this years ago.” Long Walk to Freedom 1994-01-01T00:00:00Z

He killed a great dragon a long time ago. Anya and the Dragon 2019-09-24T00:00:00Z

What does he think he’s doing, trying to hide in plain sight when the mayor’s boys roughed him up not two days ago? Dread Nation 2018-04-03T00:00:00Z

“She took off a long time ago,” I lied. The Secret Life of Bees 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Or while I’m ahead at least. I had you at happily-ever-after a minute ago. I can only mess this up. We should rest.” Adrift 1986-01-01T00:00:00Z

Less than twenty-four hours ago, he had been standing in the sunlight at the entrance to the marquee, waiting to show in wedding guests. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2007-07-21T00:00:00Z

The Ortega boat, La Estrella, must have come back to Ensenada from the fishing trip it had left on six days ago. Lupita Mañana 1981-03-21T00:00:00Z

There was, as always, barely time to swallow the meals, though the food was not as ample as it had been a year ago. Lyddie 1991-02-01T00:00:00Z

You’ve only been gone since June, but a year ago today is when everything changed, even if I didn’t know it. P.S. I Miss You 2017-09-26T00:00:00Z

Here was one of those old images brought to life, or maybe a creature descended in true line through endless years from the models used by the forgotten craftsmen long ago. The Return of the King 1955-10-20T00:00:00Z

He was just about to let it go when the door behind him, the one he had come through a minute ago, opened. Shelter (Book One): A Mickey Bolitar Novel 2011-09-15T00:00:00Z

Rekh was an unimpressive figure, similar in build and feature to a hundred other men, with a suggestion of paunch and a foot maimed long ago by spilled molten metal. The Golden Goblet 1961-04-24T00:00:00Z

Remember that time two years ago when we drove to Disney World and stopped at the farm on the way to Florida? P.S. I Miss You 2017-09-26T00:00:00Z

If a great many years ago an advanced interstellar spacefaring civilization emerged 200 light-years away, it would have no reason to think there was something special about the Earth unless it had been here already. Cosmos 1980-01-01T00:00:00Z

Ranyinudo said she ran into you some time ago and that you now have a child! Americanah 2013-05-14T00:00:00Z

At first Ged did not know him, and then putting his mind to it recalled him as the one who had let him into the School on the day of his coming, five years ago. A Wizard of Earthsea 1968-11-01T00:00:00Z

Cruise ships, years ago a symbol of the high life, have become the oceangoing equivalent of the Jersey Shore. Class Matters 2005-09-02T00:00:00Z

After all, aborigines had reached Australia by boat tens of thousands of years ago. 1491 2005-10-10T00:00:00Z

Hitler’s planned invasion, Operation Sea Lion, failed three years ago. Code Name Verity 2012-05-15T00:00:00Z

“I thought I got rid of that fool thing months ago.” Jacob Have I Loved 1980-01-01T00:00:00Z

Even though it’s only been less than four months, it seems so long ago. Before We Were Free 2002-08-13T00:00:00Z

“She reminds me of a little girl I knew a long time ago.” Wishtree 2017-09-26T00:00:00Z

In fact, I am sure it was an apprehension of this sort, penetrating even the thick haze created by alcohol, which reduced my father's passengers into a shamed silence that Sunday afternoon many years ago. The Remains of the Day 1989-05-01T00:00:00Z

Those carefree Christmases of my childhood seemed like a lifetime ago. While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement 2011-02-01T00:00:00Z

But then, perhaps it wasn’t so surprising — after all, he had only found out that Sirius was his godfather two months ago. Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire 2000-07-08T00:00:00Z

He was reminded of words he had heard a few weeks ago, words that had a horrible and particular meaning to him: Neither can live while the other survives... Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 2005-07-16T00:00:00Z

And she imagined the people who had lived there fifteen years ago while she, in a little flat on the crowded mainland, longed for their spacious, serene lives. Americanah 2013-05-14T00:00:00Z

She’d died in the 1940s and been brought back to life only a few months ago. The Mark of Athena 2012-10-02T00:00:00Z

That was the foretelling the Commandant spoke of in her office weeks ago, and now it suddenly makes sense. An Ember in the Ashes 2015-04-28T00:00:00Z

The words he sings from that song long ago. A Bird Will Soar 2021-10-19T00:00:00Z

If I think about it, just a few months ago, I was ready to die, and now here I am on a plane to New York City all by myself. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter 2017-10-17T00:00:00Z

"A year ago down in Mexico,” he told Gallien, "I was out on the ocean in a canoe, and I almost drowned when a storm came up.” Into the Wild 1996-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Of course. He came by here two weeks ago and asked Carlton and me for your hand.” The Help 2009-02-10T00:00:00Z

Ambassador Adlai Stevenson complained not long ago that in the United Nations “a skin game” was being played. The Autobiography of Malcolm X 1965-01-01T00:00:00Z

“You called me Rosie just a minute ago. My name is Rosemary,” she says, straightening up. Water for Elephants 2006-05-26T00:00:00Z

But I started skipping classes after Dad died, and I dropped out entirely several years ago. Warcross 2017-09-12T00:00:00Z

Was that last night, was it many nights ago? A Wizard of Earthsea 1968-11-01T00:00:00Z

“How do you know? What do you know about this man? If there was anything that could be done, the doctors would have told us long ago.” Flowers for Algernon 1959-05-01T00:00:00Z

It seemed a far-off, innocent time, but it was no more than ten days ago. Atonement 2001-09-20T00:00:00Z

“My dad. He died two months ago. We’ve come here to Recover from the Shock.” The God of Small Things 1997-01-01T00:00:00Z

Thank the Lord Miss Hilly hasn’t showed up here to play bridge, even though Mister Johnny tried to set it up again just two weeks ago. The Help 2009-02-10T00:00:00Z

These Americans employ about nine thousand personal chefs, up from about four hundred just ten years ago, according to the American Personal Chef Association. Class Matters 2005-09-02T00:00:00Z

“Probably for the best. A couple hundred years ago, a person was good as dead if folk saw he had a knack. The Tehlins called them demon signs, and burned folk if they had them.” The Name of the Wind 2007-03-27T00:00:00Z

“I deposited Drew at the infirmary a half hour ago,” he says. Divergent 2011-04-25T00:00:00Z

Only a short time ago, I learned that people laughed at me. Flowers for Algernon 1959-05-01T00:00:00Z

‘You’re a mania', Jason decided, the word coming to him from his studies at Camp Jupiter long ago. ‘A spirit of insanity. Blood of Olympus 2014-10-07T00:00:00Z

Moreover, it had seemed the right destiny for him since he had heard the prophecy a few weeks ago... Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 2005-07-16T00:00:00Z

"I'm calling because I think you might be able to—" "Are you one of those kids from Students Against Drunk Driving? Because I already said no to you people two days ago." Things Not Seen 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z

The Randall brothers had flipped a coin years ago to determine stewardship of each half of the plantation and in doing so made this day possible. The Underground Railroad: A Novel 2016-08-02T00:00:00Z

“Don’t I know how it is on a fine May night? Wasn’t I young, meself, once and not so long ago as you might think?” A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 1943-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Well, she just freaked out like five minutes ago when I asked to see more of her sister’s art. That video was last year,” I say as an explanation. Five Feet Apart 2018-11-20T00:00:00Z

She'd been turned into a tree when she was twelve, but that had been seven years ago. The Titan's Curse 2007-05-11T00:00:00Z

“What’s best for Jubilee? You gave up the right to make that decision a long time ago,” Nan said. Hope Springs 2021-08-10T00:00:00Z

I hadn’t used it in years but just kept hold of it, until about ten or fifteen years ago, someone stole it from me. Life Is So Good 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z

However, it has recently been argued that they actually date from 1.8 million years ago. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies 1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

Daddy went to bed an hour ago, but I can’t stay here with her. The Help 2009-02-10T00:00:00Z

She knelt before the goddess and began the words I remembered from Bianca’s oath, what seemed like so long ago. The Titan's Curse 2007-05-11T00:00:00Z

One summer, a couple of years ago, three children stepped on a plane in Jacksonville, Florida. The Thing About Jellyfish 2015-09-22T00:00:00Z

About twenty to twenty-five years ago, social activists started a campaign to get rid of unfair, negative racial stereotypes. Tears of a Tiger 1994-01-01T00:00:00Z

Not long ago I was standing in an airport retrieving a bag from a conveyor belt. Between the World and Me 2015-07-14T00:00:00Z

When it comes to my feelings, Mother and Margot ceased to count long ago. The Diary of a Young Girl 1997-02-03T00:00:00Z

“I seen two women carrying a basket down the alley not long ago. They’ll know what to do with the child, and they’ll send one to care for the mother.” Fever 1793 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z

The elephant birds and the giant lemurs, along with most of the other large animals of Madagascar, suddenly vanished about 1,500 years ago—precisely when the first humans set foot on the island. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

Her last text to me was, we’ve almost made it to our camping spot, and that was three hours ago. I Can Make This Promise 2019-10-01T00:00:00Z

“And I was in it a week ago and the week before that, and I just drove through it now, and it’s a heap. See the broken pillars?” The Martian Chronicles 1950-01-01T00:00:00Z

Screw body-slamming my heart, this girl ripped her own out mad long ago. They Both Die at the End 2017-09-05T00:00:00Z

It was Myron, six weeks ago, who had threatened to take me away from her if she didn’t agree to intensive rehabilitation. Shelter (Book One): A Mickey Bolitar Novel 2011-09-15T00:00:00Z

But next year it will be two years ago that he...and as time passes it will be harder and harder to remember and keep track.” A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 1943-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Creep. Anyway, he messaged me a few weeks ago. He does photography and sent me a picture of my rainbow fist in Oak Park.” On the Come Up 2019-02-05T00:00:00Z

I had decided weeks ago that I would never be happy again. The Stars Beneath Our Feet 2017-09-19T00:00:00Z

About an hour ago, I watched Mom get into her car from the window. I'll Give You the Sun 2014-09-16T00:00:00Z

Their paths last crossed almost a year ago at my Sweet Sixteen, if you can consider that path-crossing. The Hate U Give 2017-02-28T00:00:00Z

Papa managed to find a couple of children’s books, including one of haiku by a famous Japanese poet from a long time ago. A Place to Belong 2019-05-14T00:00:00Z

“That was like two years ago. And she goes to a private school all the way in River Hills. It’s totally fine if we do the same thing.” Amina's Song 2021-03-09T00:00:00Z

Also, a few weeks ago, Ben drunk-texted me to say I look hot in my glasses. What If It's Us 2018-10-09T00:00:00Z

It infuriated me to remember that not too long ago I—like this boy—had foolishly played the clown. Flowers for Algernon 1959-05-01T00:00:00Z

Ten years ago Ulbrickson himself had stroked Washington’s varsity to a national championship here. The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics 2014-05-27T00:00:00Z

Frightful had once been so well trained, she came to the lure even when she was not hungry, but that was long ago. Frightful's Mountain 2001-05-21T00:00:00Z

It could have been ten minutes or an hour ago. Throne of Glass 2012-08-07T00:00:00Z

With sudden sadness, he remembered the fledgling gwythaint he had befriended—long ago, it seemed—and wondered how the bird had fared. The Black Cauldron 1965-06-01T00:00:00Z

It all started about a month ago when I was assigned to read the The Catcher in the Rye. The Freedom Writers Diary 1999-10-12T00:00:00Z

“Strange. I heard once that a long time ago houses used to burn by accident and they needed firemen to stop the flames.” Fahrenheit 451 1953-01-01T00:00:00Z

Yeah, this feels far worse than the evil eye B-Cubed threw my way after ending my season three years ago. Fast Pitch 2021-08-31T00:00:00Z

Inside, there was a concrete slab with a hole in it and a plastic toilet seat on top; there had been a lid at some point, but it had broken and disappeared long ago. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood 2016-11-15T00:00:00Z

It was made thousands and thousands of years ago by a witch. The Girl Who Drank the Moon 2016-08-09T00:00:00Z

And farmers wished they hadn’t contracted their beans for a lousy two cents a pound above the going price six months ago. East of Eden 1952-09-01T00:00:00Z

“Exactly. Tell me about the elfin visitor. We’re all anxious to know. We know there was a disturbance tonight. And a few days ago. Something with the family du Burgh?” The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge 2018-09-25T00:00:00Z

I can understand Bep’s wanting to put an end to her indecision; four weeks ago she decided to write him off, but then she felt even worse. The Diary of a Young Girl 1997-02-03T00:00:00Z

“Judge Rheinbeck just delivered his decision. He called us in an hour ago. We didn’t expect it at all.” Little Fires Everywhere 2017-09-12T00:00:00Z

Neither his father, nor his father’s friends, had been at Hogwarts fifty years ago. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 2005-07-16T00:00:00Z

Jay found it at the swap meet a few weeks ago. On the Come Up 2019-02-05T00:00:00Z

Was it only a minute ago, or a while? How It Went Down 2014-10-21T00:00:00Z

Not long ago, I had been gliding through the crowded center of New York City, wanting nothing more than to make enough money to keep myself off the streets. Warcross 2017-09-12T00:00:00Z

The sea fisheries w ere defunct several years ago; the few fish they have now are from fish farms, and taste muddy. The Handmaid's Tale 1985-01-01T00:00:00Z

He just got here an hour ago, and he’s already trying to get a date in a part-time nut house—it’s almost funny. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter 2017-10-17T00:00:00Z

“Kevin, a couple of months ago everybody stood and cheered in the auditorium when she won the oratorical contest.” Stargirl 2000-08-08T00:00:00Z

It horrifies me to think that about fourteen years ago the spermatozoon that turned into me shot out of that. Black Swan Green 2006-04-10T00:00:00Z

First those policemen two years ago: Mademoiselle, was there no specific thing he mentioned'? All the Light We Cannot See 2014-05-06T00:00:00Z

It was almost like she didn’t want to remember what she was like twelve months ago, and she certainly didn’t want the boys to know that she knew me and used to be my friend. The Perks of Being a Wallflower 1999-02-01T00:00:00Z

That was six years ago, and he knew he was still her favorite, even though she’d never said so again. Hello, Universe 2017-03-14T00:00:00Z

Mrs. and Mr. Branson had moved in next door a little over a year ago. Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence 2022-03-22T00:00:00Z

Our fellows have probably given me up for lost long ago. All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel 1929-01-01T00:00:00Z

First, fool Lustig, then Hinkston, then gather a crowd; and all the men in the rocket, seeing mothers, aunts, uncles, sweethearts, dead ten, twenty years ago, naturally, disregarding orders, rush out and abandon ship. The Martian Chronicles 1950-01-01T00:00:00Z

It feels like a hundred years ago that I couldn’t meet her eyes, much less open my mouth. Sparrow 2017-10-10T00:00:00Z

No one listening would suspect they hadn’t given Weep a moment’s thought until a few weeks ago. Strange the Dreamer 2017-03-28T00:00:00Z

I’ve been cold since the Augur threw me in here hours ago. An Ember in the Ashes 2015-04-28T00:00:00Z

“I thought of you a couple weeks ago,” he said. Turtles All the Way Down 2017-10-10T00:00:00Z

Not when we married, carefree, drenched in bliss, on an oddly wintry May day seven years ago. The Girl on the Train 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Look. His driver’s license expired six years ago. He probably doesn’t even live there anymore. Truth is, we don’t know who he is or what he does, or even if he has a family.” Summer of the Mariposas 2012-10-20T00:00:00Z

“Frightful was confiscated by the conservation officer three days ago.” On the Far Side of the Mountain 1990-01-01T00:00:00Z

Another time, several months ago, I happened to be upstairs one night when the window was open. The Diary of a Young Girl 1997-02-03T00:00:00Z

It happened, to me, nearly twenty years ago, and I still remember that trail junction and those giant trees and a soft dripping sound somewhere beyond the trees. The Things They Carried 1990-01-01T00:00:00Z

Mama and I are often at loggerheads about the weirdest things, like how people in villages lived a hundred years ago. A Place at the Table 2020-08-11T00:00:00Z

“How about it, woman? Did you happen to bed down with some wandering God a dozen years ago? That might solve our little mystery.” The Name of the Wind 2007-03-27T00:00:00Z

A year ago her father had bought a new station wagon. Breadcrumbs 2011-09-27T00:00:00Z

Until three hundred years ago, no humans had come to these isolated islands, and the birds and reptiles had not learned to run from them. Frightful's Mountain 2001-05-21T00:00:00Z

As you pointed out a minute ago, he obviously didn’t. 7TH JUROR: Sure he didn’t. Twelve Angry Men 1955-01-01T00:00:00Z

"How many of you realized that I stopped counting a long time ago?" Patina 2017-08-29T00:00:00Z

“Years ago, I was brought here myself when my spirit got lost. This is a good place to find yourself.” Touching Spirit Bear 2001-01-09T00:00:00Z

I remembered them against my hip bone in Wal-Mart, which felt like days ago. Paper Towns 2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

It made it all too easy to remember how he’d felt many years ago. Beasts of Prey 2021-09-28T00:00:00Z

My own daddy gave her that name years ago. The Help 2009-02-10T00:00:00Z

Twenty years ago, she held that same white girl, by then an old woman, in her arms while she died. The Help 2009-02-10T00:00:00Z

Every once in a while an inexperienced potter would try his hand at painting his pieces, but the more accomplished potters, Min and Kang among them, had long ago given up trying the technique. A Single Shard 2001-04-23T00:00:00Z

The man who left me for another woman two years ago. The Girl on the Train 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z

The basement wasn’t quite finished, bathroom project abandoned years ago, toilet bowl off its sewage site, half inch of dust coating it. Burning Blue 2012-10-25T00:00:00Z

He did not think of the men who would die; he had learned long ago not to do that. The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War 1974-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Is he, by God! Hi? They should have forced his resignation long ago. Duplicitous plagiarist! Coxcomb!” The Golden Compass 1995-07-01T00:00:00Z

When he came over three nights ago, we sat out on the porch swing listening to the crickets. The Help 2009-02-10T00:00:00Z

Today, no less than fifty years ago, a flawed public consensus lies at the core of the prevailing caste system. The New Jim Crow 2010-01-05T00:00:00Z

"Sadly your father died some years ago, Kabir. And all these years, we never knew he had a wife. Or a son. Not until the cook called us looking for your father." Born Behind Bars 2021-09-07T00:00:00Z

“We didn’t even have guards near the fence until five years ago,” says Will. Divergent 2011-04-25T00:00:00Z

“You long ago lost the right to tell me what to do,” he says. Enrique's Journey 2006-02-21T00:00:00Z

To know if either of them would fight to keep her after trying so hard fifteen years ago to get her. Far from the Tree 2017-10-03T00:00:00Z

“It is of the English. I so heard our lord of the land tell his young son who was setting out for the great university of Heidelberg long ago.” A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 1943-01-01T00:00:00Z

Once, long ago, Clarisse had walked here, where he was walking now. Fahrenheit 451 1953-01-01T00:00:00Z

I keep my voice low, taking Mina’s arm and guiding her back toward Mr. de Vries's study, where we sat together just a few nights ago. Girl in the Blue Coat 2016-04-05T00:00:00Z

Just weeks ago, it had been the scene of Lincoln’s inaugural ball. Chasing Lincoln's Killer 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z

I chose a dress that they'd given me for my birthday a few years ago. Girl in the Blue Coat 2016-04-05T00:00:00Z

“But... as I came up the pass an hour ago ...” He touched the back of his neck. The Martian Chronicles 1950-01-01T00:00:00Z

“It’s a saying from thousands of years ago, written in a language called Latin about a place called Rome,” he explains. Mockingjay 2010-08-24T00:00:00Z

“It wouldn’t start. About two months ago maybe.” Dumplin' 2015-09-15T00:00:00Z

She had sensed the truth of it long ago, Dany thought as she took a step closer to the conflagration, but the brazier had not been hot enough. A Game of Thrones 1997-08-04T00:00:00Z

Hazel remembered what Pluto told her long ago: A descendant of Neptune will wash away your curse and give you peace. The Son of Neptune 2011-10-04T00:00:00Z

Six years ago she didn’t know any different, but now it was such a huge part of her life. Book Scavenger 2015-06-02T00:00:00Z

Had not his father died long ago, alone, without having seen his son again? Siddhartha 1922-01-01T00:00:00Z

“I am your boss and that is a direct order. Anyway, why shouldn’t you accept that from me? I seem to remember you gave one up for a friend not too long ago.” Water for Elephants 2006-05-26T00:00:00Z

“Because a few days ago, when I was riding the stallion, it threw me and I broke both my legs. Again, I bemoaned my misfortune.” When the Sea Turned to Silver 2016-10-04T00:00:00Z

“Neither have I. This was my great-grandfather’s time. Seventy years ago, we returned to Russia and were welcomed back by the tsar. My family has lived there ever since, but.. Yuri sighed. “ The City Beautiful 2021-10-05T00:00:00Z

But no one wants to think about it because it brings up Link and Pamela and the swastikas and stories of what happened forty years ago. Linked 2021-07-20T00:00:00Z

Ten years ago, Toto was walking with his wife on a beach in Ocean City, New Jersey. Drama High 2013-09-26T00:00:00Z

Lauren had asked her a few months ago, after their dad had stormed out of the house and their mom hadn’t even come to check on them. Far from the Tree 2017-10-03T00:00:00Z

I bawl at the splintered sunlight where half a second ago she stood. Grendel 1971-01-01T00:00:00Z

There was a huge debate a couple years ago about whether or not Deckers eighteen and up should be allowed to purchase drinks. They Both Die at the End 2017-09-05T00:00:00Z

A moment ago, it was empty, but I know the rules of simulations and how to control them. Insurgent 2012-05-01T00:00:00Z

“I came back about two weeks ago. If you want to go back to sleep I’ll call the nurse to give you a shot.” The Secret History 1992-10-16T00:00:00Z

The last rocket that could, Saturn 5, was retired years ago and has never been replaced. A Short History of Nearly Everything 2003-05-06T00:00:00Z

“You could have told me this five minutes ago.” Everything, Everything 2015-09-01T00:00:00Z

Celia was fussing with the suit Matt had worn to the birthday party long ago. The House of the Scorpion 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z

Until two days ago, my father’s paintings had covered it entirely, gifts from friends and artists. Burning Blue 2012-10-25T00:00:00Z

“Your father was my best friend,” Rajar added quietly, “a long time ago.” The Reader 2016-01-12T00:00:00Z

Several years ago, I was going through my family heirlooms when I came across a manuscript that was assumed to be a novel written by my great-great-great-grandfather. Book Scavenger 2015-06-02T00:00:00Z

“I thought it might blow from the south-west about an hour ago but the wind has died away again,” he said. Rebecca 1938-08-01T00:00:00Z

A few nights ago a drunken white man had come up to him and begun pulling him along the street. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter 1940-07-29T00:00:00Z

Last time I got sick at school, two years ago, it was some kind of flu bug going around. How It Went Down 2014-10-21T00:00:00Z

It seems like a million years ago that I was an ordinary kid who thought nothing was more important than some upcoming sports season and my next dumb prank with Jordie and Pouncey. Linked 2021-07-20T00:00:00Z

She had joined them two weeks ago, in the town hall, sewing singlets and towels for the soldiers. Half of a Yellow Sun 2006-09-12T00:00:00Z

A couple of months ago she would have rejoiced, of course, and she knew that too, and felt confused. The Golden Compass 1995-07-01T00:00:00Z

‘No problem, just make sure you’re getting enough iron and protein. Hmm ... a little weak in the left shoulder. I assume you got hit with something heavy about a month ago?’ Blood of Olympus 2014-10-07T00:00:00Z

Someone had lived here long ago, and the vine had grown so heavy, part of the arbor had collapsed. The House of the Scorpion 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z

Nobody likes change, not even my parents, with their treasured memory of how things were done in the villages of Pakistan long ago. A Place at the Table 2020-08-11T00:00:00Z

It still hasn't fully healed from a few days ago. The Hunger Games 2008-09-14T00:00:00Z

My daughter gave me a hat about eight or ten years ago and I wear it every day. Life Is So Good 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z

Ranyinudo had introduced them one afternoon, months ago, when Don dropped by Ranyinudo’s flat on his way to his club, wearing tennis whites, and Ifemelu had left almost immediately, to give them privacy. Americanah 2013-05-14T00:00:00Z

“Some of it was done recently, but some of it’s from quite a long time ago. You should have Kath’s stuff already. She got plenty into the Gallery. Didn’t you, Kath?” Never Let Me Go 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z

I flash back to the necklace I stole for Sophia that helped me win her back all those years ago. X: A Novel 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Oh, I heard that years ago. But nobody put no stock in it.” Sula 1973-11-01T00:00:00Z

“It happened so long ago. I didn’t want to upset you.” The Namesake 2003-09-01T00:00:00Z

A year ago I was in Maine, a teacher of languages. The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War 1974-01-01T00:00:00Z

That chunk of coal was once a green plant, a fern or reed that lived one million years ago, or maybe two million, or maybe one hundred million. All the Light We Cannot See 2014-05-06T00:00:00Z

Several of the younger boys with whom she had been on eye-gouging terms only a few years ago made self-conscious conversation with her. Go Set a Watchman: A Novel 2015-07-14T00:00:00Z

For the village boy in the bakery all those years ago had been right—one glance from a witch is enough to put even the most determined child under her spell. How to Disappear Completely 2020-04-28T00:00:00Z

On Sunday, which felt like a lifetime ago, they had thought she’d be handing them each a giant check. Millionaires for the Month 2020-09-01T00:00:00Z

He doesn’t sound like the boy who kissed me, sick with desire, just hours ago. The Cruel Prince 2018-01-02T00:00:00Z

It wasn’t until two moves ago—when we left Blessed, Alabama—that I regretted leaving. Hope Springs 2021-08-10T00:00:00Z

They walk under a cluster of trees which, only hours ago, housed the livelihoods of food hawkers. Americanah 2013-05-14T00:00:00Z

“You saw in the news about the protests? Years ago. When there were elections?” Darius the Great Is Not Okay 2018-08-28T00:00:00Z

“I did. But they told me the school quit buying their gas three months ago. Said the school probably switched to bleed-off gas.” Out of Darkness 2015-09-01T00:00:00Z

I thought about the prophecy made at Half-Blood Hill, what seemed like a million years ago. The Lightning Thief 2005-07-01T00:00:00Z

“He’s getting it. Russ sees a psychologist twice a week. You want to know what Russ told his grandparents two weeks ago?” Boy21 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z

We head to Sasha’s, a clothing store that Rabia and I discovered a couple of years ago, tucked into a corner of the mall. A Place at the Table 2020-08-11T00:00:00Z

We led the ape parade back to the sanctuary, reversing the course I had taken weeks ago. Endangered 2012-10-01T00:00:00Z

“I talked to him a couple days ago,” she said. Native Speaker 1995-01-01T00:00:00Z

It seemed a long time ago I wanted him to like me, to be my friend. Miracle's Boys 2000-04-23T00:00:00Z

Had Almighty God, in all His infinite wisdom, really been afraid that men six thousand years ago would succeed in building a tower to heaven? Catch-22 1961-11-10T00:00:00Z

Same tent where he told me his secret not so long ago. King and the Dragonflies 2020-02-04T00:00:00Z

“It found me, actually, about eight years ago. Been around the world a couple times before we met, I believe.” A Tangle of Knots 2013-02-05T00:00:00Z

“Already? Wasn’t it two weeks ago that G. M. Pennington told you to consider becoming a writer?” The Serpent King 2016-03-08T00:00:00Z

“We never did get to finish that talk we began a long time ago.” Dragonwings 1975-01-01T00:00:00Z

Just over an hour ago, Cas would never have dreamed that Frankie Ochoa would look at her with such intense concern. Time Bomb 2018-03-13T00:00:00Z

“Yeah, I know what they are, but... that was when my mom was little, like a million years ago. What’s he doing here?” The Battle of the Labyrinth 2008-05-06T00:00:00Z

And it tosses the arm out an open window that wasn’t there a moment ago. Challenger Deep 2015-04-15T00:00:00Z

Buddy's khaki-jacketed shape seemed small and unrelated to me as the brown posts he had stood against that day a year ago, at the bottom of the ski run. The Bell Jar 1963-01-14T00:00:00Z

“She first told me about you when I called her from Pakistan about a month ago.” Half of a Yellow Sun 2006-09-12T00:00:00Z

He looked even better than he had six months ago—tanner and taller, leaner and more muscular. The Mark of Athena 2012-10-02T00:00:00Z

“Because he went to his tomb ten months ago, to join my mother, who has been with the gods these many years.” The Golden Goblet 1961-04-24T00:00:00Z

“Maybe. Anyway, my great-grandfather got this mud from the bottom of the river sixty-four years ago. Next to my Conestoga wagon, it’s the best thing I have.” Crash 1996-03-19T00:00:00Z

Then I found a photo of you playing with the train set we bought for you a couple of Christmas’s ago. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time 2003-05-01T00:00:00Z

Was this not the river in which he had once wished to drown himself—hundreds of years ago—or had he dreamt it? Siddhartha 1922-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Don’t tell me it’s too hard! After today, or I guess it was a few days ago . . . anyway, after that, it should be nothing.” Twilight 2005-10-05T00:00:00Z

It wasn’t right for it to be this temperature, not when it had just been sweltering only minutes ago. Beasts of Prey 2021-09-28T00:00:00Z

That he was outnumbered did not matter because the whole world had outnumbered him long ago, and what do numbers matter? Between the World and Me 2015-07-14T00:00:00Z

I think of Namontack walking along the docks—the same docks I left so many months ago—and seeing our world for the first time. Blood on the River 2006-05-04T00:00:00Z

At the top of a fresh page, she carefully recopied the cipher she’d printed from the Book Scavenger website a few days ago. Book Scavenger 2015-06-02T00:00:00Z

“The Witch prowls the woods on padded paws. She ate the heart of a sorrowing tiger long ago, and that heart still beats inside her.” The Girl Who Drank the Moon 2016-08-09T00:00:00Z

At once, he knew that it had come before, seconds ago, but he had taken no notice, mistaking it for a part of the noise he was making himself. I'm the King of the Castle 1970-09-03T00:00:00Z

Beside her was a facsimile of his father, constructed from the morning suit he’d worn on that glorious day in Christchurch Cathedral fourteen years ago. Artemis Fowl 2001-04-26T00:00:00Z

For him, the party was two days ago—old news—but the things he’d said, the way he’d treated me, were still fresh wounds for me. We Are the Ants 2016-01-19T00:00:00Z

Two days ago j Nurse had been hale and healthy. A Dance with Dragons 2011-07-12T00:00:00Z

It felt like that all had happened a million years ago. Wonder 2012-02-14T00:00:00Z

“She did tell you 2 minutes ago. Lucy’s like a nervous teacup Chihuahua. She takes a while to trust someone.” The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl 2018-05-01T00:00:00Z

“They took our souls a long time ago, Elias.” An Ember in the Ashes 2015-04-28T00:00:00Z

He’d only bought it a couple of days ago, but now it was too small. The House of Hades 2013-10-08T00:00:00Z

Perhaps the best explanation we have of this process comes from the sociologist Annette Lareau, who a few years ago conducted a fascinating study of a group of third graders. Outliers 2008-11-18T00:00:00Z

What she doesn’t know is that a water main burst just a few minutes ago next to her building. Challenger Deep 2015-04-15T00:00:00Z

The man who crafted it more than one hundred years ago knew how to shake up an audience. Spooked! 2018-08-07T00:00:00Z

It had stopped answering pings four hours and twenty-four minutes ago. The Martian 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

Nothing like when the police pull her over a few weeks ago. The Help 2009-02-10T00:00:00Z

The supercontinent began to break apart, however, and by 60 million years ago, Antarctica had migrated south to its present location over the Pole. Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World 1998-11-17T00:00:00Z

“Your family. I know about your parents. I met them, years ago, at graduation. You have a sister, too, right?” Tuesdays with Morrie 1997-01-01T00:00:00Z

Nok suddenly remembered what her father had told her years ago: when the Governor rose to power, the first thing he had built wasn't a temple, but a jail. A Wish in the Dark 2020-03-24T00:00:00Z

She’s trying to find a way to reach her mother, who died three years ago from some kind of cancer that only women get. A Mango-Shaped Space 2003-04-16T00:00:00Z

He was one of the kata-kata, the short bald man who had pointed a rifle at Otto on the front walk so many days ago. Endangered 2012-10-01T00:00:00Z

“He wanted so badly to show you the gift. And I felt a need to find my way by myself. I have been here before, but it was a long time ago.” Gathering Blue 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z

That was how I met that troublesome rabbi of long ago: with dis­belief and annoyance. Life of Pi 2001-09-01T00:00:00Z

A few days ago she would have found this story so beautiful. Breadcrumbs 2011-09-27T00:00:00Z

Gerald walked over to him and placed his hand on the older man’s shoulder, just as Rob’s dad had done for him on that day that now seemed so long ago. Forged by Fire 1997-01-01T00:00:00Z

For a moment I was surprised to see one opened only six weeks ago, but then I remembered. Shelter (Book One): A Mickey Bolitar Novel 2011-09-15T00:00:00Z

“That Hickock’s got a sense of humor. They was telling me how, about an hour ago, one of the guards says to him, ‘This must be the longest night of your life.’ In Cold Blood 1966-01-01T00:00:00Z

But Dave Thornton passed it on his tractor a short while ago as he was coming home. The Remains of the Day 1989-05-01T00:00:00Z

They’ve painted their nails the same color blue, and one of them has the exact backpack I dumped a few minutes ago. How to Disappear Completely 2020-04-28T00:00:00Z

Just watching the Task Force leave Plymouth and Portsmouth three weeks ago, it was obvious Great Britain was going to thrash them. Black Swan Green 2006-04-10T00:00:00Z

“She’s using the transmitter we were supposed to find. I found it. Weeks ago. They said it was a network of terrorists, but it was just an old man and a girl.” All the Light We Cannot See 2014-05-06T00:00:00Z

“And that,” said Mrs. Reynolds, pointing to another of the miniatures, “is my master—and very like him. It was drawn at the same time as the other—about eight years ago.” Pride and Prejudice 1813-01-28T00:00:00Z

Our commanders have days ago informed them of this determination. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves 2009-10-13T00:00:00Z

Then he picked up the phone and dialed the number of his father’s house in that long ago. The Road 2006-09-28T00:00:00Z

Somebody had clear-cut the top of the mountain more than a decade ago, and the forest still hadn’t recovered. October Sky 1999-04-01T00:00:00Z

Almost a year ago, I broke into an Arcadia bank through the alley that runs behind it. Legend 2011-11-29T00:00:00Z

And so we know that particles that were thought to be “elementary” thirty years ago are, in fact, made up of smaller particles. A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays 1988-01-01T00:00:00Z

Think of her three years ago, a weeping jelly of fear under fire. Code Name Verity 2012-05-15T00:00:00Z

But the only purse I own is a ratty canvas thing I bought three years ago from Old Navy. Leah on the Offbeat 2018-04-24T00:00:00Z

We received your letter some time ago, and are glad you had a relatively good time on the Sugar Circuit. Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography 1986-01-01T00:00:00Z

Some time ago there was an army theatre in these parts. All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel 1929-01-01T00:00:00Z

Maybe they used some of the underground cisterns that had been laid down long ago but had been ignored, or maybe they used saltwater from the bay. Dragonwings 1975-01-01T00:00:00Z

“We have dined with her. She visited us just a month ago.” The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage 2017-10-19T00:00:00Z

They have a hole through the toe that I tried to fix nearly a year ago, but my sewing skills are poor, and I wound up just making them ugly. The Cruel Prince 2018-01-02T00:00:00Z

“A man torn apart. An adolescent boy with serious issues. Let me show you, again, the last known photo of this troubled young fugitive, taken a week ago in Denver.” The Lightning Thief 2005-07-01T00:00:00Z

Twelve hours ago I received the phone call telling me I’m going to die today. They Both Die at the End 2017-09-05T00:00:00Z

"You could have come over ten years ago, if you'd wanted to," the wife said. The Sun Also Rises 1926-10-22T00:00:00Z

I don’t remember the moment that changed my life 4 years ago. The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl 2018-05-01T00:00:00Z

All the old fears I had long ago put to rest, which I thought were well buried and forgotten, rose up again to haunt me. While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement 2011-02-01T00:00:00Z

Everything is worse than a minute ago when we still thought we might find him. The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle 2018-01-23T00:00:00Z

“They're not developed yet. I just took them a day ago.” Girl in the Blue Coat 2016-04-05T00:00:00Z

It's rather funny to remember now, but you know, only this time a year ago, you were still insisting you were going to resign. The Remains of the Day 1989-05-01T00:00:00Z

She ran out of space for her library some time ago, but instead of making the room larger she has opted to let the books become the room. The Night Circus 2011-09-13T00:00:00Z

He thinks about how a year ago, he barely had one family, and now he has three: Maya and Grace and Jess; Mark and Linda; and a family across the border, lost but not gone. Far from the Tree 2017-10-03T00:00:00Z

“That was a long time ago,” I said. Flush 2005-09-13T00:00:00Z

“General Coleman is waiting for us. We needed to be in DC fifteen minutes ago.” The Smartest Kid in the Universe 2020-12-01T00:00:00Z

The healthy, clear-eyed boy I saw a few days ago has lost at least fifteen pounds and developed a nervous tremor in his hands. Mockingjay 2010-08-24T00:00:00Z

“You are Odin, who was sacrificed by himself to himself so long ago.” Norse Mythology 2017-02-07T00:00:00Z

Mr. Patterson had told me that over a hundred years ago, laborers had harvested the granite guts of the quarry to build a bridge between Boston and Cambridge. The Line Tender 2019-04-16T00:00:00Z

Paolo’s father was a real estate mogul who had been indicted for insider trading some months ago. Genuine Fraud 2017-09-05T00:00:00Z

In stark contrast to two nights ago, when I felt Peeta was a million miles away, I'm struck by his immediacy now. The Hunger Games 2008-09-14T00:00:00Z

He sat for a while shuddering with horror at what he had seen, hardly believing that the still body had been a warm, living, breathing creature not long ago. Redwall 1986-10-23T00:00:00Z

It was so rare that beastkeepers managed to pay back their debts—the last one who’d managed it had done so at least a year ago—but now it was their turn. Beasts of Prey 2021-09-28T00:00:00Z

“No, not even twenty years ago,” he was saying. Rebecca 1938-08-01T00:00:00Z

“I knew about it long ago,” he said. East of Eden 1952-09-01T00:00:00Z

I decided a few hours ago how I wanted to handle this—I want to teach Caleb a lesson. Allegiant 2013-10-22T00:00:00Z

A little over twelve hours ago that Death-Cast dude hit me up telling me I’m a goner today. They Both Die at the End 2017-09-05T00:00:00Z

Too late to regret not packing the Victoria’s Secret silk pajamas my mother got me two birthdays ago, which still had the tags on them in a drawer somewhere back home. Twilight 2005-10-05T00:00:00Z

Especially since losing his partner two months ago. They Both Die at the End 2017-09-05T00:00:00Z

He had always assumed the toy had been sold a long time ago. The Invention of Hugo Cabret 2007-01-30T00:00:00Z

“I found an envelope a long time ago in your safe, so we went to the address that was on it,” she said. Far from the Tree 2017-10-03T00:00:00Z

“That was forever ago! We’re in sixth grade now. You need to get over it.” Amina's Voice 2017-03-14T00:00:00Z

About 25 years ago Professor Karl Gosswald of the University of Wurzburg developed a method of cultivating this ant and establishing colonies. Silent Spring 1962-09-27T00:00:00Z

She was curled up, as though she had long ago decided to take a nap tucked into the space and never awoke. Ophie's Ghosts 2021-05-18T00:00:00Z

“This fellow and four of his friends robbed me about five days ago. I didn’t recognize him at first. He was clean-shaven then, but it’s him.” The Name of the Wind 2007-03-27T00:00:00Z

Rather than listen, I began to look out the window, staring at the cars driving by when I thought about my brother Kevin’s death a year ago . The Freedom Writers Diary 1999-10-12T00:00:00Z

A long time ago, Pa told me that people living in hot countries should eat spicy foods because it makes them drink more water. First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z

Greek and Roman mythology is quite generally supposed to show us the way the human race thought and felt untold ages ago. Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes 1942-01-01T00:00:00Z

She was worried about her daughter after her panicked visit a week ago. In the Time of the Butterflies 1994-01-01T00:00:00Z

When I rang the doorbell and watched my mother drive off, I didn’t even think about being on that porch a few days ago with the lasagna dinner. Red Kayak 2004-09-23T00:00:00Z

One suggested function of the first gardens of nearly 11,000 years ago was to provide a reliable reserve larder as insurance in case wild food supplies failed. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies 1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

I know that one of these buildings on the strip used to be the MGM Grand, which had a deadly fire a long time ago. Challenger Deep 2015-04-15T00:00:00Z

He looked up at me with his narrow little face and almond eyes and there was his father years and years and years ago saying, “Not you, Béene.” The Poisonwood Bible 1998-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Slavery is forbidden in Pentos, by the terms of the treaty the Braavosi imposed on us a hundred years ago. Still, they will not refuse you.” A Dance with Dragons 2011-07-12T00:00:00Z

Two years ago, his brother had become eligible to join the Sons of the Six, the city’s elite warriorship. Beasts of Prey 2021-09-28T00:00:00Z

And I could be wrong, but it looks like they’re a little bit bigger than they were just five minutes ago. Dragons in a Bag 2018-10-23T00:00:00Z

Reaching down, I grab my backpack and lift it onto the stool where Mom sat only moments ago. Thirteen Reasons Why 2007-10-18T00:00:00Z

Then I went to the beautiful Mitumba Valley in the north of the park, where all those years ago I first watched chimps in the big Msalula tree. My Life with the Chimpanzees 1988-03-01T00:00:00Z

“Naw, fool, they didn’t steal no money, they was worth four thousand dollars when they run ’way ten year ago. The Journey of Little Charlie 2018-01-30T00:00:00Z

Long ago, a powerful sage cursed the gods, causing them to lose their immortality. Aru Shah and the End of Time 2018-03-27T00:00:00Z

Three thousand years ago in Delphi the Oracle became ecstatic every single working hour. Middlesex: A Novel 2002-06-05T00:00:00Z

Aglovale said: “Do you think my family life is very happy now? Do you know that my mother died a few months ago? Father used to call her Piggy.” The Once and Future King 1958-01-01T00:00:00Z

The oldest Java “man” fossils—of course, they may actually have belonged to a Java woman—have usually been assumed to date from about a million years ago. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies 1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

But ever since I lost my baby thirteen years ago, my deepest fear is that I will have to put another one in the ground. In the Time of the Butterflies 1994-01-01T00:00:00Z

“If I could have foreseen ten years ago how things would happen, I’ve have cleared out too. I’m too old now. And besides, I’ve got my daughters and grandchildren here.” Black Like Me 1961-01-01T00:00:00Z

The first time Mother told about it, a long time ago, Marly had asked, “Why did you hang around? Why didn’t you go outside and play?” Miracles on Maple Hill 1956-08-01T00:00:00Z

“Those children vanished a long, long time ago. How could you know anything about them?” The Old Willis Place 2004-09-20T00:00:00Z

"Same thing happened to me centuries ago. I served my time but met some old friends while I was there. How about you?" City of the Plague God 2021-01-12T00:00:00Z

Even Colin could only name a handful of people who lived, say, 2,400 years ago. An Abundance of Katherines 2006-09-21T00:00:00Z

The work that Farmer started in Haiti more than thirty years ago continues to evolve. Mountains Beyond Mountains 2013-04-13T00:00:00Z

It happened two and a half years ago, but standing in front of this school makes me feel like it happened two weeks ago. Girl in the Blue Coat 2016-04-05T00:00:00Z

Besides, he told Kwang in Korean, this man bought the watch many months ago, during the winter, and he was being generous enough in offering him another one. Native Speaker 1995-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Just say it fast and then go on. I was getting better. I heard this song and almost felt better ten minutes ago.” The Help 2009-02-10T00:00:00Z

A moment ago I was convinced that we were perfectly matched, and maybe we still are—but only with our clothes on. Allegiant 2013-10-22T00:00:00Z

Practically the first words he ever said to me, all those months ago. I'll Give You the Sun 2014-09-16T00:00:00Z

A few months ago that comment might’ve stung, but Piper was way past that. Blood of Olympus 2014-10-07T00:00:00Z

“I saw her on my way to work this morning. She told me that the police found a body at the bottom of the Seine a few days ago.” The Invention of Hugo Cabret 2007-01-30T00:00:00Z

It was disorienting, sitting in a dark hotel room, thousands of miles from home, my body broken, calling the name of a boy I’d only met a few days ago. The Kite Runner 2003-05-01T00:00:00Z

I’m taken back like it was only a few days ago. The Last Cuentista 2021-10-12T00:00:00Z

Sasuke had vanished so many years ago, taken by a nameless kidnapper. Warcross 2017-09-12T00:00:00Z

The Yao arrived in Malawi more than a hundred years ago from across the lake in Mozambique. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind 2009-09-29T00:00:00Z

We are maniacal about it now, since six years ago, when we tried to change the tradition and had venison stew instead. Please Ignore Vera Dietz 2012-10-12T00:00:00Z

Two Christmases ago, which was his first Christmas with us, Richard gave me my own set of ropes and started showing me knots. When You Reach Me 2009-07-14T00:00:00Z

I started coming down here about a month ago. Shelter (Book One): A Mickey Bolitar Novel 2011-09-15T00:00:00Z

It’s wet, awkward, and tastes like all those Cheetos Puffs Malik ate a little while ago. On the Come Up 2019-02-05T00:00:00Z

“You know he dropped into Enugu campus for a surprise visit some days ago? It looks like it’s our turn!” Half of a Yellow Sun 2006-09-12T00:00:00Z

The Agricultural Revolution sped it up about 12,000 years ago. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

Just a few days ago, I thought my family consisted of Charlie and my mom. Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish 2018-08-21T00:00:00Z

“At Jasper’s mom’s house? Mom and Dad told us about it a while ago.” Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World 2018-03-06T00:00:00Z

It was easy now to picture what this place would one day become: that sad and desecrated wreck I had first discovered weeks ago. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 2011-06-07T00:00:00Z

The first sailing vessel dates back to 7,000 years or so ago, and so does the origin of writing. The Invention of Science 2015-09-17T00:00:00Z

“Just wanted to check in about the truth you were seeking not too long ago. You make any progress?” Fast Pitch 2021-08-31T00:00:00Z

His picture had been all over the news two months ago when the trial ended. Genuine Fraud 2017-09-05T00:00:00Z

And even though I had jaw-alignment surgery a few years ago, I have to chew food in the front of my mouth. Wonder 2012-02-14T00:00:00Z

I think if it hadn’t been for you, I would have killed myself a long time ago.” Made You Up 2015-05-19T00:00:00Z

That must have been a long time ago. Breadcrumbs 2011-09-27T00:00:00Z

I know her too from a few years ago. The Kite Runner 2003-05-01T00:00:00Z

At the very peak of the last ice age 20,000 years ago, 30 percent of the earth was under ice. A Walk in the Woods 1997-11-01T00:00:00Z

There was a time, not very long ago, in the desperately poor New York City neighborhoods of Brownsville and East New York, when the streets would turn into ghost towns at dusk. The Tipping Point 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z

“It was a long time ago,” he explained. Gathering Blue 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z

Eight women came, thrilled that a female pilot was finally getting the chance they had been denied so long ago and perhaps a little sad that they weren't flying along with her. Women in Space 2014-02-01T00:00:00Z

“Gary quit selling insurance three years ago. I have grandbabies to spoil.” The Parker Inheritance 2018-03-27T00:00:00Z

Nana couldn’t remember that I’d visited her two days earlier, but she remembered every detail of something that had happened more than forty years ago. We Are the Ants 2016-01-19T00:00:00Z

Then, two weeks ago, Uncle Amin’s brother had lost his job and had moved into the house with his wife and three children. Shooting Kabul 2010-06-22T00:00:00Z

“Ate this in Japan. Decades ago. An international meet. Our team hosts said we had to try.” Black Brother, Black Brother 2020-03-03T00:00:00Z

A couple of hours ago I would’ve said that her face was expressionless, but I’m becoming a Natasha expert, and her face is only trying to be expressionless. The Sun Is Also a Star 2016-11-01T00:00:00Z

“I told you. She died. It’s so long ago. She wasn’t your Mother.” East of Eden 1952-09-01T00:00:00Z

That had been thirty days ago, and he had never glanced back. The Martian Chronicles 1950-01-01T00:00:00Z

The mound of provisions that a minute ago had looked so pleasingly abundant and exciting—all new! all mine!—suddenly seemed burdensome and extravagant. A Walk in the Woods 1997-11-01T00:00:00Z

Something about seeing her there alone on that log, in that field, with her tennis shoes in a plié, makes me remember why I liked her a few months ago. Landscape with Invisible Hand 2017-09-12T00:00:00Z

Sometimes, an is should have been gone long, long ago, and needs to be—immediately and forcefully and with not a minute to lose—changed. A Heart in a Body in the World 2018-09-18T00:00:00Z

My mother had long ago grown weary of trying to get Daddy to finish up his university courses. Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High 1994-01-01T00:00:00Z

And even if were true, it was ages ago, not today, in New York City. Dactyl Hill Squad 2018-09-11T00:00:00Z

Long ago enough, I guess, for their insides to start rotting and the crows and foxes to call all their friends and family around for a party. How I Live Now 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z

“I knew Sharif jan in Kabul, long time ago, before he moved to America.” The Kite Runner 2003-05-01T00:00:00Z

“It must have happened a long, long time ago,” said Lina. The City of Ember 2003-05-01T00:00:00Z

Long, long ago, there lived a most honorable man who owed much of his good fortune to the kindness of his friend. In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson 1984-10-12T00:00:00Z

My dad hasn’t so much as looked at that boat in exactly one year and three months, which is the time that our lives revolve around: one year and three months ago. Hurricane Child 2018-03-27T00:00:00Z

When she’d first stumbled across the notion of Wyrdgates, days ago, it had seemed interesting, and so she’d researched, digging through piles of old parchment, only to find more puzzling theories. Throne of Glass 2012-08-07T00:00:00Z

Some of the things I see would of made me faint a year ago, but now I face them the way the nurses and doctors do. Across Five Aprils 1964-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Long ago,” Elodin said conversationally, not taking his eyes from the courtyard below. The Name of the Wind 2007-03-27T00:00:00Z

“But Captain Candless was working for him, too. Up until just a couple days ago—” Knot stood abruptly. Ship Breaker 2010-05-01T00:00:00Z

“You loved this two years ago,” her mom said with a little smile. Breadcrumbs 2011-09-27T00:00:00Z

Until not so very long ago, there was no great need for the two to communicate with each other. History of Art, Volume 1 1962-01-01T00:00:00Z

It’s as if he’s lived through it before, a long time ago; and despite the unpleasantness, the irritation of it, the combination of boredom and fear, he has a certain fellow feeling. Cat's Eye 1988-09-01T00:00:00Z

I fidget as I remember what Cook said days ago. An Ember in the Ashes 2015-04-28T00:00:00Z

There had been times — oh, such long ago times — when people’s lives had been golden and green. Gathering Blue 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z

I was still the spoiled child of long ago. Night 1955-01-01T00:00:00Z

He had been refused a visa years ago, when he was newly graduated and drunk with American ambitions, but with his new bank statements, he easily got a visa. Americanah 2013-05-14T00:00:00Z

“Father Olufemi called for an emergency meeting a few hours ago.” Beasts of Prey 2021-09-28T00:00:00Z

“The inspection sticker on your truck here expired a year and a half ago.” The Milagro Beanfield War 1974-01-01T00:00:00Z

“I said I wanted to know about my daddy. That was just some old story from twenty years ago about two people I don’t even know.” Moon Over Manifest 2010-10-12T00:00:00Z

The first day of summer seems so long ago. The Freedom Writers Diary 1999-10-12T00:00:00Z

A few days ago, Mom was talking to Aunt Louise about going home for good. A Place at the Table 2020-08-11T00:00:00Z

Accordingly, I’ve gone ahead and jotted down a few revealing notes on the bride as I knew her almost six years ago. Nine Stories 1953-04-06T00:00:00Z

Only two days ago, we were in Atlantis being so free and open and in love, and everything was perfect. Ask the Passengers 2012-10-23T00:00:00Z

It was the same voice that had asked Ugwu questions about his village festival years ago. Half of a Yellow Sun 2006-09-12T00:00:00Z

“Well, that was a long time ago, of course,” she says. The Sea in Winter 2021-01-05T00:00:00Z

Also, even though I stopped drinking Bluefin a few hours ago, I still feel exceedingly twitchy. Paper Towns 2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

“But there’s something else I done, many years ago, another crime, and they don’t even know of it. ” The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread 2003-08-25T00:00:00Z

The cake got finished a few nights ago, thank God, but the old lady’s as nice as ever. I Am the Messenger 2002-01-10T00:00:00Z

When I began this book, five years ago, a fellowship bought me a year of continuous silence in my San Francisco apartment. Hunger of Memory 1982-01-01T00:00:00Z

Like that letter he took from me months ago. Like Vanessa 2018-03-13T00:00:00Z

She can’t possibly mean the old man I saw just a few moments ago. Dread Nation 2018-04-03T00:00:00Z

The office space next door was empty and had been vacated some time ago; the electric power was cut off, and ceiling panels were falling down. The Hot Zone 1994-01-01T00:00:00Z

I am to replace my mother, whose seat at the mah jong table has been empty since she died two months ago. The Joy Luck Club 1989-01-01T00:00:00Z

Several years back he had told Bernabe: “Six hundred years ago maybe you could have grown up to be somebody like Michelangelo.” The Milagro Beanfield War 1974-01-01T00:00:00Z

“We went to school together, two years ago. You’re Clay, right?” Thirteen Reasons Why 2007-10-18T00:00:00Z

A few weeks ago the Plutos claimed we were dying so we could score free passes for our adventure to Coney Island, thinking the dude would give us a break and let us through. They Both Die at the End 2017-09-05T00:00:00Z

“A thousand years ago women were doing this exact same thing,” said August. The Secret Life of Bees 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Something local, I think. About thirteen or fourteen years ago. A family was killed around here.” The Graveyard Book 2008-09-30T00:00:00Z

I met Max at a downtown basement club a few months ago. Dreaming in Cuban 1992-01-01T00:00:00Z

Three days ago—that means she started the day after Frightful was confiscated. On the Far Side of the Mountain 1990-01-01T00:00:00Z

“When you feel afraid,” his mother had told him, all those years ago, “sing your fears away. Dragons make the most beautiful music in the world. Everyone says so.” The Girl Who Drank the Moon 2016-08-09T00:00:00Z

Now that he’s right here in front of me, I can’t find any of the confidence I had a minute ago. Amari and the Night Brothers 2021-01-19T00:00:00Z

“My mom called a few minutes ago and said his mother had called and told her,” Lucas added. Where Things Come Back 2011-05-03T00:00:00Z

So let me start here, with a small thing that happened not long ago. Becoming 2018-11-13T00:00:00Z

The newspaperman called again to say he had found some photographs taken at Westingtown parties twenty years ago. The Westing Game 1979-01-01T00:00:00Z

I phoned Scott’s number an hour ago, again a few minutes ago. The Girl on the Train 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z

In the distance, where such a short time ago he had played with such power and joy, she spotted his beloved drum, crushed and in splinters in the dirt. Copper Sun 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z

A few months ago, a new family, Samar’s family, rented the blue house. Wishtree 2017-09-26T00:00:00Z

There were no clocks in the village, but the bell tower rang at intervals, and the midafternoon bell had sounded some time ago. Son 2012-10-02T00:00:00Z

She changed it a few days ago, and when my grandfather saw it, he shook his head anti asked if she was working for the circus. The Fourteenth Goldfish 2014-08-26T00:00:00Z

“I did some research on this a couple years ago,” Augustus continued. The Fault in Our Stars 2012-01-10T00:00:00Z

If she hadn’t been so cocky two weeks ago, no one would have noticed them. The Reader 2016-01-12T00:00:00Z

The picture blew away like the ashes that had been beaten in the mortar so long ago in the village, the day Vatete died. A Girl Named Disaster 1996-01-01T00:00:00Z

It looked surprisingly like the balloon that had crashed into their apartment wall only one week ago. A Tangle of Knots 2013-02-05T00:00:00Z

Our can’t-tell-what-the-color-is car didn’t even have a logo because it had fallen off a long time ago. Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus 2017-09-05T00:00:00Z

“Oh, I took that down ages ago,” I answered. Wonder 2012-02-14T00:00:00Z

Surprised, he asked Úrsula if all that was true and she answered him that it was, that many years ago the gypsies had brought magic lamps and flying mats to Macondo. One Hundred Years of Solitude 1967-05-30T00:00:00Z

Humans first evolved in East Africa about 2.5 million years ago from an earlier genus of apes called Australopithecus, which means ‘Southern Ape’. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

She began to recite: Many many years ago, something...something, How the García Girls Lost Their Accents 1991-01-04T00:00:00Z

Dad had taught them that saying a long time ago. I Survived the Eruption of Mount St. Helens, 1980 2016-08-01T00:00:00Z

“But—” “How did I get free? Hercules did that, eons ago. So you see, I have a soft spot for heroes. Some of you can be quite civilized.” The Last Olympian 2009-05-05T00:00:00Z

A month ago she never would have made that offer. The Dead and the Gone 2008-05-04T00:00:00Z

Dome had seemed a queer place to him as well when first he came here with his own princess, many years ago. A Dance with Dragons 2011-07-12T00:00:00Z

They’d come here four years ago, from a little village in Italy. I Survived the Great Molasses Flood, 1919 2019-09-03T00:00:00Z

It came with the discharge papers when I moved in six months ago. Wintergirls 2009-03-19T00:00:00Z

He says, “Six—almost seven years ago my little sister called me up late at night.” The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle 2018-01-23T00:00:00Z

I’ve been feeling this way since waking up in Jupiter's bed a week ago on the day after Thanksgiving, and it’s very confusing. Odd One Out 2018-08-09T00:00:00Z

There was no way to find where his body was to bury because the water would have taken him away long ago. Root Magic 2021-01-05T00:00:00Z

She got out of prison a few weeks ago. Like Vanessa 2018-03-13T00:00:00Z

“The Society of the Evening Star is an arcane organization that we all hoped had gone extinct decades ago,” Maddox explained. Fablehaven 2006-07-30T00:00:00Z

A week ago, Harry would have said finding a partner for a dance would be a cinch compared to taking on a Hungarian Horntail. Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire 2000-07-08T00:00:00Z

“Um, yeah. Seems like that was about three thousand years ago.” The Kill Order (Maze Runner, Book Four; Origin) 2012-08-14T00:00:00Z

"They were supposed to disinfect in here weeks ago. Don't worry. The bedbugs are itchy, but you get used to it." What the Night Sings 2018-02-20T00:00:00Z

I go there because my family moved here six years ago. Things Not Seen 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z

Had I made one step forward out of my own shyness Maxim would have told me these things four months, five months ago. Rebecca 1938-08-01T00:00:00Z

She’d only gotten her stripe a few weeks ago, and the “act of valor” that earned it for her had been mostly an accident. The Son of Neptune 2011-10-04T00:00:00Z

“Yeah,” Freckles says, “we did a production of Midsummer in Cleveland three years ago. And she was luminous.” Better Nate Than Ever 2013-02-05T00:00:00Z

“That’s right. Outside the Law Courts. It was bombed in— oh, many years ago. It was a church at one time. St. Clement’s Dane, its name was.” 1984 1949-06-08T00:00:00Z

That was eight years ago on a Thursday morning, when Grandpa Blakeslee was fifty-nine and I was fourteen. Cold Sassy Tree 1984-11-02T00:00:00Z

But Stella was right a few days ago. Five Feet Apart 2018-11-20T00:00:00Z

Three hundred years ago, the Royal Society was set up: the first true scientific society in her world. The Amber Spyglass 2000-10-10T00:00:00Z

Mess of brambles and thorns because Uncle Drum quit mowing it years ago. The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle 2018-01-23T00:00:00Z

“I ran out of chances a long time ago. It’s all Fates now.” Ship Breaker 2010-05-01T00:00:00Z

My daughter does not know that I was married to this man so long ago, twenty years before she was even born. The Joy Luck Club 1989-01-01T00:00:00Z

Today the water looks considerably lower than it looks in the photographs McCandless took twelve months ago, but to try to ford the river here, in thundering midsummer flood, is nevertheless unthinkable. Into the Wild 1996-01-01T00:00:00Z

“He was a platoon sergeant. He died a few years ago.” Wonder 2012-02-14T00:00:00Z

They could have been installed years ago, in case of robberies. The Darkest Minds 2012-12-18T00:00:00Z

Two years ago when they drove to Washington, D.C., they were arrested for stealing the back tires off a senators car. Walk Two Moons 1994-06-30T00:00:00Z

A couple of weeks ago I burned the cupcakes I was making because I forgot to set the timer. Blended 2018-10-30T00:00:00Z

Long ago there was a prince called Sigemund who was a great hero. Beowulf: A New Telling 1968-01-01T00:00:00Z

It darted into his mind that he had heard long ago that there were giants in these Northern countries. The Horse and His Boy 1954-09-06T00:00:00Z

Two months ago I got an even better one and I have been working full-time. The Freedom Writers Diary 1999-10-12T00:00:00Z

‘The morning of two days ago, nigh on three days of journey! How far is the place where you parted?’ The Return of the King 1955-10-20T00:00:00Z

Since leaving the toy booth moments ago, Hugo’s left hand had been clenched into a tight fist, which now he slowly opened like a flower. The Invention of Hugo Cabret 2007-01-30T00:00:00Z

“Oh, I apologize! I was forgetting you’re a real little expert. But you’re right, yes, this book isn’t very old. It was published almost exactly thirty-eight years ago. Ridiculously young for a book!” Inkheart 2003-09-23T00:00:00Z

“Or at least we was. We just broke out two nights ago. And now we on the run to Mexico where we could fish.” We Were Here 2009-10-05T00:00:00Z

It was written a thousand years ago and is twice the length of Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad combined. Here to Stay 2018-09-08T00:00:00Z

They moved to Florida a few years ago. Doing Time Online 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z

To-day, over all our land, the unburied bones of our fathers and sons and brothers tell the sad mistake that those men made when long ago they left this one great wrong. Votes for Women! 2018-02-13T00:00:00Z

It is a dull, drab, ash gray; it looks very old, even though it was built several years ago. The Freedom Writers Diary 1999-10-12T00:00:00Z

She remembers how all those years ago Vincent journeyed to see their old neighbor who was dying and said afterward, “When I die, I hope I shall be lying just like him,” surrounded by family. Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers 2017-04-18T00:00:00Z

Their first candles had long ago burned down to the last inch, as had their second candles. The City of Ember 2003-05-01T00:00:00Z

Until a couple of centuries ago, they served as an all-purpose, neutral pronoun—singular and plural, masculine and feminine. Woe Is I 1996-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Your daddy told me about it a month or more ago. Said if anything happened to him, I was to get the letter out and read it to the fam’ly.” Cold Sassy Tree 1984-11-02T00:00:00Z

It was only a few months ago that there was finally a pause in the thousands of wars being waged all over the planet. How I Live Now 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Huh. No more foolish than you were when you were saying the same thing to me not so long ago,” Matthias retorted. Redwall 1986-10-23T00:00:00Z

Two years ago, even as Finn and Emma laughed and laughed and laughed, Mom had tried to explain that she wasn’t really worried about kidnappers. The Strangers 2019-04-02T00:00:00Z

Instead of going back the long way, I hop on a much shakier, nonglass elevator, which I discovered two days ago. Five Feet Apart 2018-11-20T00:00:00Z

He had moved to New York only a month ago, had tried to look her up but the phone is listed under NikhiPs last name. The Namesake 2003-09-01T00:00:00Z

She also tells me the story of a man named Santos who left Los Ojos many years ago with the dream of becoming a dancer in Los Angeles. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter 2017-10-17T00:00:00Z

We put it in the trunk of your car hours ago—Ain’t nothin’ like some cool bottled sunshine in the moonlight after a hot game! Tears of a Tiger 1994-01-01T00:00:00Z

“My dad and I bought this stuff a few days ago.” The Science of Breakable Things 2018-03-06T00:00:00Z

I tried not to think about Mr. Pirzada, in his lime-scented overcoat, connected to the unruly, sweltering world we had viewed a few hours ago in our bright, carpeted living room. Interpreter of Maladies 1999-05-22T00:00:00Z

“No, my parents withdrew me three years ago.” The Fault in Our Stars 2012-01-10T00:00:00Z

Harry had spent the morning completely emptying his school trunk for the first time since he had packed it six years ago. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2007-07-21T00:00:00Z

Then she remembered something her father had told her years ago: You were named Piper because Grandpa Tom thought you would have a powerful voice. Blood of Olympus 2014-10-07T00:00:00Z

Their first achievement was the colonisation of Australia some 45,000 years ago. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

I saw the Libyan Desert, where nomads tend their camels as they did a thousand years ago. Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story 1976-01-01T00:00:00Z

Two days ago they fled their master, having heard news of Lord Dunmore’s proclamation, and have spent the last two nights in flight across plantations. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves 2009-10-13T00:00:00Z

The star whose light she was now seeing could have gone out years ago. In the Time of the Butterflies 1994-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Now, now, Ma. They took those signs down years ago.” Gone Crazy in Alabama 2015-04-21T00:00:00Z

A few days ago, “Tobias” was a name only I knew, among the Dauntless; it was the piece of himself that he gave me. Insurgent 2012-05-01T00:00:00Z

Hearing the nickname my father gave me years ago sparks a pang of missing him. Amina's Song 2021-03-09T00:00:00Z

"It was our shepherd's cottage, until he died, two years ago last lammas-tide, and my parents gave it to me." Stardust 1998-10-01T00:00:00Z

But after Anna was born thirteen years ago, Mom insisted on hosting her first rice-tasting ceremony—something the family never did for me—here in our Harlem apartment. You Bring the Distant Near 2017-09-12T00:00:00Z

Naheed brought the flower to her face as she remembered that day, a year ago, when nothing else was important to her except fitting in, being like everyone else. Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story 2016-06-28T00:00:00Z

“But he did not arrive until dark, just a while ago. He’s out now, looking over the terrain.” The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War 1974-01-01T00:00:00Z

Three years ago, when I’d started, there had been more than a hundred. The Battle of the Labyrinth 2008-05-06T00:00:00Z

I stopped, some time ago, feeling for each lost child. How It Went Down 2014-10-21T00:00:00Z

I bet he was hot twenty years ago. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter 2017-10-17T00:00:00Z

Both of these are accepted: Respectability is different from what it was fifty years ago. Woe Is I 1996-01-01T00:00:00Z

“The Washingtons lived here a long time ago,” she said, tracing the edge of the paper. The Parker Inheritance 2018-03-27T00:00:00Z

A few weeks ago, I would have agreed with him. How to Disappear Completely 2020-04-28T00:00:00Z

What would have been expected of her twenty years ago? Dreaming in Cuban 1992-01-01T00:00:00Z

‘The fellow in question first came in here twelve days ago and he was a stranger in the town. The first week he gave us twenty dollars’ worth of trade. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter 1940-07-29T00:00:00Z

I'd planted Mo's cutting two years ago and hardly visited after that. City of the Plague God 2021-01-12T00:00:00Z

I brought his T-shirt, new, only two weeks ago, but already it has brown patches like stains from cashew juice, which never come off. Purple Hibiscus 2003-10-01T00:00:00Z

I was learning the craft of poetry, which really was an intensive version of what my mother had taught me all those years ago—the craft of writing as the art of thinking. Between the World and Me 2015-07-14T00:00:00Z

“I don’t know, shank. They’re all over the place, like freaking labels for the nice pretty Maze they built. I quit bothering to look at ’em a long time ago.” The Maze Runner 2009-10-06T00:00:00Z

“I don’t blame you for crying, but it happened long ago. Try to think of it as a story you read in a book.” The Old Willis Place 2004-09-20T00:00:00Z

Two weeks ago she had judged him a fool. The Underground Railroad: A Novel 2016-08-02T00:00:00Z

It was not so different from the sensation he’d felt once long ago, in that tiny village in Africa, when he’d been a very different man. A Tangle of Knots 2013-02-05T00:00:00Z

“Spirited! Good, good. Pappa would have said the same thing about me twenty-five years ago.” When Dimple Met Rishi 2017-05-30T00:00:00Z

I mean, I knew Chiron had received a prophecy from the Oracle many years ago. The Sea of Monsters 2006-04-01T00:00:00Z

I didn't feel so much as a twinge of pain, despite having been flattened by a train three days ago. City of the Plague God 2021-01-12T00:00:00Z

Toby stared at the spot where, just three nights ago, Lily had been lying on top of him. We'll Fly Away 2018-05-08T00:00:00Z

They were young creatines—the same creatures whose eyes had met with the almost forgotten click of magnets in the smoky Hall of Camelot so long ago. The Once and Future King 1958-01-01T00:00:00Z

And her mother had learned a long time ago that the only way to get Pia to go to the salon without kicking was to let her take Skitter the skateboard with her. Look Both Ways 2019-10-08T00:00:00Z

“That was a great many years ago,” he reminded her. The Witch of Blackbird Pond 1958-12-01T00:00:00Z

My dad bought it three years ago when we were in Peru, and so it had been around the world several times over. Shelter (Book One): A Mickey Bolitar Novel 2011-09-15T00:00:00Z

And stars are the places where the molecules that life is made of were constructed billions of years ago. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time 2003-05-01T00:00:00Z

A couple of years ago Miss Thomas’s little boy Jimmy got caught up in some kinda whirlpool there and they didn’t find the poor soul’s body for three days.” The Watsons Go to Birmingham 1995-01-01T00:00:00Z

He zipped up the bag and then went to pack his backpack, which still smelled like an ocean, even though he had returned from the Third World three days ago. Healer of the Water Monster 2021-05-11T00:00:00Z

Oh no, the common man is every bit as guilty; otherwise, people and nations would have rebelled long ago! The Diary of a Young Girl 1997-02-03T00:00:00Z

When my mother mentioned seeing my article seven years ago, she wrote to me. Hunger of Memory 1982-01-01T00:00:00Z

It would be a far cry from the solemn and fearful birthdays I had spent in Pakistan not long ago. Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Changed the World 2013-10-08T00:00:00Z

It was just over a year ago that Lily had told a few of her friends about Conor’s mum, even though he hadn’t said she could. A Monster Calls 2011-05-05T00:00:00Z

Years ago, Uncle Josiah had suggested to Charles that worms moved the dirt around; it looked as though that movement made rocks sink into the ground. Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z

Barely a day ago, Nate had been running for his life. I Survived the American Revolution, 1776 2017-08-01T00:00:00Z

“It was a long time ago—ten, maybe fifteen years ago. I think he did go after her, but I don’t think he found her.” Ruby Holler 2002-02-01T00:00:00Z

Something I didn’t even know existed two days ago. Amari and the Night Brothers 2021-01-19T00:00:00Z

Nearly did for his keeper not long ago. Mary Poppins 1962-10-27T00:00:00Z

She read Wilbur’s lines and heard Kelly echo back the words she had read aloud moments ago. George 2015-08-25T00:00:00Z

A few days ago it had seemed like a vast treasure trove, but now I knew it would never be enough. The Name of the Wind 2007-03-27T00:00:00Z

“I know how it is,” he said; “when I was pregnant I couldn’t keep warm—my feet were like ice, I sat over the fire all that winter. Long ago of course, but I remember!” The Left Hand of Darkness 1969-03-01T00:00:00Z

She thought back to a conversation she’d had with the goddess Aphrodite two years ago in Charleston . Blood of Olympus 2014-10-07T00:00:00Z

After the last girl gives her speech, a band comes onstage, an indigena band, playing the panpipe music MacGyver played on his cassette years ago. The Queen of Water 1996-01-01T00:00:00Z

Petal was taken in spring; that was months ago. Witchlings 2022-04-05T00:00:00Z

She had latched on to Granny’s mother long time ago. Cold Sassy Tree 1984-11-02T00:00:00Z

The tires had collapsed a long time ago, and the black rag roof was peeling. The Glass Castle 2005-03-01T00:00:00Z

Mama dropped us over here, like, an hour ago, and might be back already. Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero 2020-08-18T00:00:00Z

It was all there, along with an old yearbook photo, taken over five years ago—right before I’d transferred to school in the OASIS. Ready Player One: A Novel 2011-08-16T00:00:00Z

My parents will have started to worry an hour ago, with Mama turning white around the edges and Papa making loud jokes to cover up his own concern. Girl in the Blue Coat 2016-04-05T00:00:00Z

The light that long ago had struck me into syncope, recalled in this vision, seemed glidingly to mount the wall, and tremblingly to pause in the centre of the obscured ceiling. Jane Eyre 1847-10-16T00:00:00Z

Just hours ago, we had all been drifting off to sleep, and now our lives, our families, our people, were torn apart. How Dare the Sun Rise 2017-05-16T00:00:00Z

I wondered when the doorbell would ring already, because Mom had called at least twenty minutes ago and I was getting pretty hungry. Absolutely Almost 2014-06-01T00:00:00Z

So much has changed from a year ago. Crash 1996-03-19T00:00:00Z

How excited she would have been to see this a month ago; now she was not so sure. Julie of the Wolves 1972-01-01T00:00:00Z

‘I parted with them in the morning two days ago,’ said Faramir. The Return of the King 1955-10-20T00:00:00Z

Two days ago the j fleets of Old Volantis had been two days farther off. A Dance with Dragons 2011-07-12T00:00:00Z

It seems a century ago, but I think there were two reasons, originally, why I didn’t take a degree. Franny and Zooey 1961-09-14T00:00:00Z

Capping the brainstem is the R-complex, the seat of aggression, ritual, territoriality and social hierarchy, which evolved hundreds of millions of years ago in our reptilian ancestors. Cosmos 1980-01-01T00:00:00Z

The Director’s voice seems different than it did...eighteen hours ago? Internment 2019-03-07T00:00:00Z

She knew the hymn,- her mother had taught it to her once, a long time ago in Winterfell. A Clash of Kings 1998-11-16T00:00:00Z

It was a long time ago, but that lie stuck. The Help 2009-02-10T00:00:00Z

A long time ago, back in the days when people still got pressed to death, a witch lived on this side of the river. Made You Up 2015-05-19T00:00:00Z

“The antiques they carried out a while ago must have been worth a million all by themselves.” Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution 1998-01-01T00:00:00Z

I stopped working on it three years ago, when he married Linda, his administrative assistant. Saints and Misfits 2017-06-13T00:00:00Z

She remembers something a santera told her nearly forty years ago, when she had decided to die: “Miss Celia, there’s a wet landscape in your palm.” Dreaming in Cuban 1992-01-01T00:00:00Z

It’s funny how ten seconds ago, he was tiny Simon Spier in a wolf shirt—and suddenly, out of nowhere, he’s this dapper guy in a tux. Leah on the Offbeat 2018-04-24T00:00:00Z

I knew that he was trying to do me a favor, and a few days ago I would have jumped at the opportunity for free shoes. The Name of the Wind 2007-03-27T00:00:00Z

‘Because two Black Riders have overtaken us today, or one has done so twice,’ said Pippin; ‘only a little while ago he slipped away as you drew near.’ The Fellowship of the Ring 1954-07-29T00:00:00Z

He’d seen his mother go into this mode before, but it was a long time ago. Anger Is a Gift 2018-05-22T00:00:00Z

Forty-three years old, and the war occurred half a lifetime ago, and yet the remembering makes it now. The Things They Carried 1990-01-01T00:00:00Z

And that’s how it was for me that night two weeks ago, when the nurse finally came to the waiting room and said I could see Mom. Liar & Spy 2012-08-07T00:00:00Z

“There were a few ... I just had them out a couple weeks ago . . . Ah! Here we go.” The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 2010-02-02T00:00:00Z

Weeks ago, when we first got out, I hadn’t been able to fend him off. The Darkest Minds 2012-12-18T00:00:00Z

“Baba didn't get the chance to tell you but I got married fifteen years ago.” The Kite Runner 2003-05-01T00:00:00Z

The crater is the inside of a giant volcano that blew its top off millions of years ago. My Life with the Chimpanzees 1988-03-01T00:00:00Z

I realize how stiff and sore I still am from two nights ago at the Cathedral. I Am the Messenger 2002-01-10T00:00:00Z

Forty hours ago, I laid out a plan for tracking Day to Commander Jameson. Legend 2011-11-29T00:00:00Z

“I remember once calling you ‘George,’ in one of my amiable fits, about ten years ago. Emma 1815-12-23T00:00:00Z

For one thing, two nights ago, he broke up with Melo again, he’s pretty sure for the last time. Dear Martin 2017-10-17T00:00:00Z

‘Look for yourself. Here’s the very last map in the whole flaming atlas! We went off that over an hour ago!’ The BFG 1982-01-01T00:00:00Z

I began to wonder what it was like to be an explorer over four hundred years ago. Breaking Through 2001-08-27T00:00:00Z

The girl suddenly said: "My brother won't leave until he finishes his assignment. Sorry. His session was over ten minutes ago." Counting by 7s 2013-08-29T00:00:00Z

I can imagine Hannah here, about two years ago, pushing off and sliding down. Thirteen Reasons Why 2007-10-18T00:00:00Z

Though it should’ve happened a long time ago, it finally hit Mark— like a hammer to his heart—just how much trouble Trina was in. The Kill Order (Maze Runner, Book Four; Origin) 2012-08-14T00:00:00Z

My old bed, shaped like a red race car, the one I’d outgrown ages ago, was in pieces. Crenshaw 2015-09-22T00:00:00Z

He is so speedy, so wily, that mall workers long ago gave up trying to catch him. The One and Only Ivan 2012-01-17T00:00:00Z

The few carbon dates available suggest that the fields date from about three thousand years ago to about five hundred years ago—roughly the time the conquistadors arrived, bringing European diseases. 1491 2005-10-10T00:00:00Z

“How long ago were these harvested? And don’t you dare lie to me!” The Girl Who Drank the Moon 2016-08-09T00:00:00Z

But that day almost two years ago, Kara talked me into the red skirt. The Adoration of Jenna Fox 2008-04-29T00:00:00Z

“Nowjust a minute ago I understood you to say that you selected somebody that knew the law better. Now who was that person?” Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice 2009-01-20T00:00:00Z

I saw them as I remembered them before they went away to war, which seemed so very long ago. Bless Me, Ultima 1972-01-01T00:00:00Z

It had been almost two years ago, on a sunny early summer afternoon. Huntress 2011-04-05T00:00:00Z

About ten years ago I began visiting different African countries where chimpanzees still live to see what was going on and to see if I could help. My Life with the Chimpanzees 1988-03-01T00:00:00Z

“We came to the same conclusion several minutes ago, while you two were over there whispering.” Hollow City 2014-01-14T00:00:00Z

“Maybe when I was little. But my friends and I stopped doing that kind of stuff a long time ago.” Uglies 2005-02-08T00:00:00Z

Of course they were confused; the last snow had been decades ago. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate 2009-05-12T00:00:00Z

It was nearly midnight and her mother had gone to bed hours ago. Bone Gap 2015-03-03T00:00:00Z

By around 5,000 years ago, pollen analyses testify to widespread deforestation of highland valleys, suggesting forest clearance for agriculture. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies 1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

Tagoe’s mom bounced when he was a kid, and his pops ran off three years ago when he couldn’t keep up with the bills. They Both Die at the End 2017-09-05T00:00:00Z

“Take the housefly. If it hadn’t developed all those split- second reflexes it would have become extinct long ago.” A Separate Peace 1959-01-01T00:00:00Z

The magicians long ago had been studying boots just like these. The Girl Who Drank the Moon 2016-08-09T00:00:00Z

I used to play games when I was young—it might as well be a thousand years ago. Grendel 1971-01-01T00:00:00Z

Up until two weeks ago, I’d gotten by on doing nothing exciting and telling the truth all the time. Ask the Passengers 2012-10-23T00:00:00Z

“I seen them a few years ago up North. They’re traders, but some of them are just mean, nasty warriors.” Anya and the Dragon 2019-09-24T00:00:00Z

Harry well remembered putting it on, exactly one year ago, and waiting, petrified, for its decision as it muttered aloud in his ear. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets 1998-07-02T00:00:00Z

“In spite of the curly crop, I don’t see the ‘son Jo’ whom I left a year ago,” said Mr. March. Little Women 1868-01-01T00:00:00Z

That truth first came to light a few weeks ago, at a party, with Hannah directly in front of me. Thirteen Reasons Why 2007-10-18T00:00:00Z

He took her to the Renaissance Festival two summers ago. Breadcrumbs 2011-09-27T00:00:00Z

Vincent called him that evening, and Obinze was mildly surprised, because Vincent had called him only once, months ago, when he changed his bank and wanted to give him the new account number. Americanah 2013-05-14T00:00:00Z

Two months ago, the queen put a man in a starvation box in the Royal Square for trying to kiss Daisy, the Belle at the Fire Teahouse. The Belles 2018-02-06T00:00:00Z

Ruth and I often found ourselves remembering these things a few years ago, when I was caring for her down at the recovery centre in Dover. Never Let Me Go 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Seventeen years ago, come Michaelmas, and been after the Questing Beast ever since. Boring, very.” The Once and Future King 1958-01-01T00:00:00Z

I’d figured out a long time ago how to get As without trying; my secret to success was that I genuinely didn’t care. A Very Large Expanse of Sea 2018-10-16T00:00:00Z

“It was because he thought he killed me fifteen years ago.” Strange the Dreamer 2017-03-28T00:00:00Z

“A shooting star that fell a million years ago.” East of Eden 1952-09-01T00:00:00Z

The fire had gone out, but not long ago, since there was still smoke. The Marrow Thieves 2017-05-10T00:00:00Z

It galled me, not being able to recall its real name, as I had read it in Rhetoric and Logic just a few days ago. The Name of the Wind 2007-03-27T00:00:00Z

“Yes, sir, a few days ago, while I was coming here.” Watership Down: A Novel 1972-01-01T00:00:00Z

I thought back to our telephone conversation a few days ago. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 2011-06-07T00:00:00Z

He sees the pile of birthday cards scattered on the carpet, and remembers a hot August day fourteen years ago in Cambridge when he held his son for the first time. The Namesake 2003-09-01T00:00:00Z

Probably all humans lived in bands until at least 40,000 years ago, and most still did as recently as 11,000 years ago. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies 1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

“I can’t stay. Mother’s sick—” “I told you five months ago to print my initiative and now another week has passed and you still haven’t followed my instructions.” The Help 2009-02-10T00:00:00Z

They resembled most closely the Riddle that had escaped from the diary so long ago, and he had been memory made nearly solid. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2007-07-21T00:00:00Z

I heard her trilling out for her father a while ago over there in their house. The Martian Chronicles 1950-01-01T00:00:00Z

Day before Hallows’ Eve, thirty- nine years ago. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child 2016-07-31T00:00:00Z

Mr. Shears used to be married to Mrs. Shears and they lived together until two years ago. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time 2003-05-01T00:00:00Z

“You must not have heard, Brother Spencer. Their pa took ill over in New York and they moved back there about six months ago.” Elijah of Buxton 2007-08-06T00:00:00Z

“But in New York we gave up those old habits long ago. Harry is my oldest friend. He lives with me over in the drain pipe. So how was scrounging tonight, Harry?” The Cricket in Times Square 1960-01-01T00:00:00Z

“There was much churning in Manifest those many years ago. A war. A quilt. And a curse...” Moon Over Manifest 2010-10-12T00:00:00Z

It started a few minutes ago while we were in the car. American Street 2017-02-14T00:00:00Z

My friend Chester was curled up on the brown velvet armchair, which years ago he’d staked out as his own. Bunnicula 1979-03-01T00:00:00Z

“Do you remember the trader that came through about two span ago?” The Name of the Wind 2007-03-27T00:00:00Z

“Kali. She told me a long time ago—when I first went to where the brook widens near the river.” Nectar in a Sieve 1954-01-01T00:00:00Z

They renovated it three years ago and practically quadrupled its size, putting in basketball courts, a saltwater pool, shiny new cardio equipment, and rows and rows of free weights. Five Feet Apart 2018-11-20T00:00:00Z

She is a happier Allys than the one I met so long ago. The Adoration of Jenna Fox 2008-04-29T00:00:00Z

“Khalid—this was his favorite book, years ago,” my mom says, showing me A Wrinkle in Time. King and the Dragonflies 2020-02-04T00:00:00Z

The letters were coming out strange and blockish, neither English cursive nor the German-style Kurrent script I had been taught years ago by my tutor. The City Beautiful 2021-10-05T00:00:00Z

It was so strong that it overcame his fear: he could almost have run out there and then down the road without his hat, as Bilbo had done on a similar morning long ago. The Fellowship of the Ring 1954-07-29T00:00:00Z

And that is, funnily enough, exactly where this story begins: two and a half thousand years ago. Words Like Loaded Pistols 2011-10-20T00:00:00Z

When you smiled at her, you reminded her of something she forgot a long time ago. The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm 1994-04-01T00:00:00Z

Once, long ago, in a garden in springtime, Ulysses had seen a squirrel made of stone: gray, hollow eyed, frozen. Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures 2013-09-24T00:00:00Z

It was given to me by my great-grandfather, Henry Wilhide Webb III, who dived to the bottom of the river to get it 71 years ago. Crash 1996-03-19T00:00:00Z

“It used to be a local bank. It was bought out a few years ago. All the accounts were transferred over to Spirit of Independence Bank.” The Parker Inheritance 2018-03-27T00:00:00Z

His mom kept it in her garage all these years, and a couple of weeks ago Dad drove it to Brooklyn in a rented van. Liar & Spy 2012-08-07T00:00:00Z

They’d only come up from America a couple of years ago and were still struggling. Elijah of Buxton 2007-08-06T00:00:00Z

I imagine that this is what it must’ve been like decades ago, before the cold lights of computer screens and tablets and phones permanently eliminated the peace of darkness from our lives. Internment 2019-03-07T00:00:00Z

“But he was alive thousands of years ago!” Aru Shah and the End of Time 2018-03-27T00:00:00Z

Until just a few days ago, the girl I was looking for was living at the home of a boy I'd seen multiple times. Girl in the Blue Coat 2016-04-05T00:00:00Z

He hadn’t been this cold since he had nearly drowned trying to escape more than a year ago. Touching Spirit Bear 2001-01-09T00:00:00Z

And it struck Obinze that, a few years ago, they were attending weddings, now it was christenings and soon it would be funerals. Americanah 2013-05-14T00:00:00Z

My mother had painted the cabinets eighteen years ago in an attempt to bring some sunshine into the house. Twilight 2005-10-05T00:00:00Z

“Now I told Little Stu a month ago to get this gal up to the house. But frankly,” he lowers his voice, “he’s still a little gun-shy after that other one.” The Help 2009-02-10T00:00:00Z

That some even read the inscribed memorial for two men who died so many years ago. The Night Circus 2011-09-13T00:00:00Z

Mama and Papa had told Laney that Mr. Jeet had had a stroke two years ago, which meant that he sounded and looked a little different than he used to. The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street 2017-10-03T00:00:00Z

“Wait, what? What probably never happened a long time ago?” Linked 2021-07-20T00:00:00Z

Calder’s dad said he remembered hearing that Mrs. Sharpe’s husband had been murdered in Europe many decades ago, and that he had been doing research on Vermeer at the time of his death. Chasing Vermeer 2004-06-01T00:00:00Z

A month ago, the Capitol’s firebombs obliterated the poor coal miners’ houses in the Seam, the shops in the town, even the Justice Building. Mockingjay 2010-08-24T00:00:00Z

The store’s power had been shut off some time ago, and it was clear it had been open to the wild for too long. The Darkest Minds 2012-12-18T00:00:00Z

Przemyśl taught me long ago not to divide people by their country, their religion, or even their preferences in politics. The Light in Hidden Places 2020-03-03T00:00:00Z

The missions, the rote viciousness, will wear me down until there’s nothing left of the boy the Augurs stole fourteen years ago. An Ember in the Ashes 2015-04-28T00:00:00Z

The rain ended abruptly, and the sun started to burn through the clouds as if it hadn’t just been pouring buckets a few minutes ago. The Night Diary 2018-03-06T00:00:00Z

It was difficult to believe how silent it all had been a moment ago, and how Biafran markets now thrived so easily in the bush since the Nigerians bombed the open-air Awgu market. Half of a Yellow Sun 2006-09-12T00:00:00Z

“There was a hospital there, Crow. Until a couple of years ago. That’s all.” Beyond the Bright Sea 2017-05-02T00:00:00Z

“I’m just saying that you can’t always think everything is what you hear on the news,” I continue, realizing Baba said something similar to me a few months ago. Amina's Song 2021-03-09T00:00:00Z

And not too long ago, at least in Anastasia’s case, if that infant was alive without a nursing mother around. Endangered 2012-10-01T00:00:00Z

Then TJ opens up that tenor voice of his and starts to sing this song he wrote for me many moons ago. Like Vanessa 2018-03-13T00:00:00Z

“The same day I first met you, Griphook. My birthday, seven years ago.” Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2007-07-21T00:00:00Z

“Do you remember the windstorm and the rain we had three days ago?” Lupita Mañana 1981-03-21T00:00:00Z

Sex seems to have been invented around two billion years ago. Cosmos 1980-01-01T00:00:00Z

Over three quarters of a century ago, Charles Darwin published a book titled The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Action of Worms, with Observations on Their Habits. Silent Spring 1962-09-27T00:00:00Z

This was, she told herself, the broad strokes of what she had planned out all those years ago. Little Fires Everywhere 2017-09-12T00:00:00Z

Once in the building, we head straight to the Family and Consumer Science classroom that hasn’t been used—outside of our Iridis meetings—since the school was built eight years ago. Odd One Out 2018-08-09T00:00:00Z

Standing silently near the door of the dining room, almost like a statue, was the coachman who had driven the two girls here from the market just a few months ago. Copper Sun 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z

We moved in with the Garcías a couple of weeks ago, after hearing the news. Before We Were Free 2002-08-13T00:00:00Z

His face changes, reverting to the one she recalls in perfect detail from the evening they spent in the same rooms three years ago under much more intimate circumstances. The Night Circus 2011-09-13T00:00:00Z

I’d heard her come in, and had heard Buzz leave, a while ago. Liar, Liar 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

I hear words, words from long ago that were snarled inside me. The Adoration of Jenna Fox 2008-04-29T00:00:00Z

Their wealth is washing over the upper reaches of society as it did a century ago, bringing cultural and political clout as they take up positions on museum boards and organize presidential campaign fund-raising dinners. Class Matters 2005-09-02T00:00:00Z

“The police probably stopped looking for you long ago. You could give people a false name. You could grow a beard and shave your head.” The House of the Scorpion 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z

Three years ago for her birthday, my dad surprised her by hiring part-time help for the store so she wouldn’t have to go in every day. The Sun Is Also a Star 2016-11-01T00:00:00Z

These perky, upright birds had been lost from the ice islands of Antarctica hundreds of thousands of years ago and, unable to swim back, had adjusted to the tropical heat. Frightful's Mountain 2001-05-21T00:00:00Z

Fifth grade started a few weeks ago, and a couple of cool things have happened. Out of My Mind 2010-03-09T00:00:00Z

At one locale in the American Southwest is a set of three upright slabs which were moved from their original position about 1,000 years ago. Cosmos 1980-01-01T00:00:00Z

His uncle Gerion thought that was the funniest thing he had ever heard, but his uncle Tygett said, “The last dragon died a century ago, lad.” A Dance with Dragons 2011-07-12T00:00:00Z

"Would you believe, only a month ago, these covered my fingertips?" The View From Saturday 1996-09-01T00:00:00Z

Had I been anyone worthy of any respect at all, I dare say I would have left Darlington Hall long ago.' The Remains of the Day 1989-05-01T00:00:00Z

In the middle of the wall, where Matt could have sworn nothing had been a minute ago, was a red, glowing patch. The House of the Scorpion 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z

He had told Alma the day before she left that had God not killed the Grigori angels so many years ago, their baby would have lived. Where Things Come Back 2011-05-03T00:00:00Z

Plus, a minute ago, June had looked so sad that she wasn’t good at anything, and now she looked so excited about drawing that Ivy couldn’t say no. Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World 2018-03-06T00:00:00Z

“So it would seem. He wrote to Downing Street a few months ago: ‘My dear Prime Minister. Stormbreaker 2000-09-04T00:00:00Z

Alexander the Great had died more than two thousand years ago. City of the Plague God 2021-01-12T00:00:00Z

A year ago—six months ago—it would have meant no sleep tonight. Red, White & Royal Blue 2019-05-14T00:00:00Z

I meet Benni at the same place I meet her every day, the same place I met her months ago, doing what she does every day and was doing months ago. Look Both Ways 2019-10-08T00:00:00Z

In front of almost all of them was a dory or two, some overturned, some pulled up long ago for caulking or patching. Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy 2004-05-24T00:00:00Z

Sergio slipped his hand into his jeans pocket to feel the twenty-dollar bill his grandmother had given him three days ago. Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story 2016-06-28T00:00:00Z

The population of Europe and western Asia between 130,000 and 40,000 years ago is represented by especially many skeletons, known as Neanderthals and sometimes classified as a separate species, Homo neanderthalensis. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies 1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

“How did you ever get them to follow you inside the house? A week ago they had to be dragged into the barn with a rope!” The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling 2011-01-25T00:00:00Z

Alex long ago made up his mind that when he got a dog, this would be his vet. Eleven 2014-01-06T00:00:00Z

We can use several types of reasoning to try to reconstruct the linguistic map of East Asia as of several thousand years ago. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies 1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

There’s no question it was unlikely to have happened five years ago.” Class Matters 2005-09-02T00:00:00Z

It was almost four months ago that the door was sealed shut between Hilly and me, a door made of ice so thick it would take a hundred Mississippi summers to melt it. The Help 2009-02-10T00:00:00Z

“That I can see. Where were you a moment ago?” Root Magic 2021-01-05T00:00:00Z

But years ago when our parents were trying to make Sammy, Lynnie had told me never to go in our parents’ bedroom without knocking. Kira-Kira 2004-02-01T00:00:00Z

For that reason, we must consider the concept of history, which, we are often told, begins with the invention of writing some 8,000 years ago. History of Art, Volume 1 1962-01-01T00:00:00Z

Here lies our comrade, Kemmerich, who a little while ago was roasting horse flesh with us and squatting in the shell-holes. All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel 1929-01-01T00:00:00Z

He looked even worse than he had three days ago in D.C. The Titan's Curse 2007-05-11T00:00:00Z

I was full up with loneliness for her a few weeks ago. Bronx Masquerade 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z

“You’ve missed your chance. I got there first. I overpowered Draco weeks ago. I took this wand from him.” Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2007-07-21T00:00:00Z

Then, two months ago, he pushed for that promotion and got it. You Bring the Distant Near 2017-09-12T00:00:00Z

“It was lost a long time ago,” said Granny. The City of Ember 2003-05-01T00:00:00Z

“We came from the city a year ago, and we’ve said that over and over.” Miracles on Maple Hill 1956-08-01T00:00:00Z

The last good kiss / You had was years ago.’” The Fault in Our Stars 2012-01-10T00:00:00Z

“Samantha mentioned roses are her favorite flower while we were watching Titanic,” Dylan says, beaming, like it’s a superhuman trait to remember something that was said less than twenty-four hours ago. What If It's Us 2018-10-09T00:00:00Z

He said, “Susan...you heard that...the ship’s gone. I sent those two field men inside half an hour ago. You’ll have to see The Brain again.” I, Robot 1950-12-02T00:00:00Z

“Buddy once said something reasonably sensible to me a couple of years ago,” he said. Franny and Zooey 1961-09-14T00:00:00Z

It is a practice I share with people from hundreds of years ago. Root Magic 2021-01-05T00:00:00Z

I look up into those blue eyes that no amount of dramatic makeup can make truly deadly and remember how, just a year ago, I was prepared to kill him. Catching Fire 2009-09-01T00:00:00Z

And on our porch, up the rickety front steps Gran had made Doc fix a few months ago, was a policeman. Root Magic 2021-01-05T00:00:00Z

A year ago, before, he would have visited the town even if it meant climbing over the walls by himself. A Game of Thrones 1997-08-04T00:00:00Z

When she had visited Chicago a couple of years ago, she had told Petra that all of her namesakes had grown up to be very beautiful and very lucky. Chasing Vermeer 2004-06-01T00:00:00Z

“That night at the party a couple years ago. Angela told me you stood up for her.” Burning Blue 2012-10-25T00:00:00Z

“I wondered what happened to Silly. I sent him on my bike an hour ago. He ain’t come back from Mrs. Bordman’s yet. You think that black fool just pedaled off to Mars?” The Martian Chronicles 1950-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Didn’t you hear my knock an hour ago?” Amari and the Night Brothers 2021-01-19T00:00:00Z

“A minute ago you were all about what a great connection we have. Now you’re promising to disappear?” Genuine Fraud 2017-09-05T00:00:00Z

None of the three tall windows would open because their frames had warped long ago, and an aroma of warmed dust from the Persian carpet rose to meet the diners as they entered. Atonement 2001-09-20T00:00:00Z

You don’t know this, but two years ago when I was a freshman and you were a sophomore, I used to follow you around. Thirteen Reasons Why 2007-10-18T00:00:00Z

Dasch remembered Barth as "an idealistic Nazi," and he had returned to Germany a couple of years ago. Nazi Saboteurs 2019-12-03T00:00:00Z

“Someone who is doing what this country should have done years ago.” The City Beautiful 2021-10-05T00:00:00Z

It was difficult for me to say a few days ago. Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish 2018-08-21T00:00:00Z

“A few weeks ago, Dr. Benjamin Rush wrote to Reverend Allen asking for help.” Fever 1793 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z

Not five months ago, Hamlet and I had admired the gold-red apples there. Ophelia 2006-10-31T00:00:00Z

“There is a reason you don’t know all the things I know. Along time ago, the Abnegation were entrusted with some sensitive information,” says Marcus. Insurgent 2012-05-01T00:00:00Z

"Sorry. Just arrived in New York a few days ago. Still jet-lagged, I think." You Bring the Distant Near 2017-09-12T00:00:00Z

“I got here a few minutes ago,” I say. How to Disappear Completely 2020-04-28T00:00:00Z

How just a few months ago, Ellie and I would talk about Jack. Auggie & Me 2015-07-20T00:00:00Z

Years and years and years ago she had guided the tip of the iron into the seams of a man’s white shirt. Jazz 1992-01-01T00:00:00Z

“There were not any decent Experts until the removal of the Epsilon an entire unit ago. Let us hope these have impeccable knowledge and compliance.” The Last Cuentista 2021-10-12T00:00:00Z

“I did a paper on foreign men in Shakespeare. That was a such a long time ago, so it must be old-fashioned.” Saints and Misfits 2017-06-13T00:00:00Z

To them, the tragedy happened a while ago. You Bring the Distant Near 2017-09-12T00:00:00Z

“Adore” had been on his second-grade spelling list two weeks ago, and it had been a great discovery for him. The Strangers 2019-04-02T00:00:00Z

“Fourth grade, sixth grade, and seventh. Crushes from long ago.” Saints and Misfits 2017-06-13T00:00:00Z

Now it seemed years ago, not months, that he had lived at the Laphams’, and then surely Cilia and Isannah were the only friends he had. Johnny Tremain 1943-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Let’s talk interview questions. I tracked down some from a few years ago for us to practice with.” Dumplin' 2015-09-15T00:00:00Z

Maya ruins were well known forty years ago, to be sure, but among them, too, many new things have been discovered. 1491 2005-10-10T00:00:00Z

But three summers ago, he turned eighteen, moved in with Madrina, and started acting funny around us—with an almost full beard, and a much deeper voice. Pride 2018-09-18T00:00:00Z

It didn’t seem all that long ago since Meggie herself had been able to hide unnoticed under a table. Inkheart 2003-09-23T00:00:00Z

Instead she heard her mother, Euphrosyne Stephanides, speaking in this very cocoonery years ago, elucidating the mysteries of silkworms—“To have good silk, you have to be pure,” she used to tell her daughter. Middlesex: A Novel 2002-06-05T00:00:00Z

She hands me a picture of her and Lucy from years ago. Dumplin' 2015-09-15T00:00:00Z

The situation was made still more delicate by the fact that, years ago, Tessie and Michael Antoniou had been engaged to be married. Middlesex: A Novel 2002-06-05T00:00:00Z

A hundred years ago there was a hotel on this bleak, forbidding spot, and its wind-worn foundations are still a landmark—I have seen it in photographs—but I have no recollection of it now. A Walk in the Woods 1997-11-01T00:00:00Z

With so few major crops in the world, all of them domesticated thousands of years ago, it’s less surprising that many areas of the world had no wild native plants at all of outstanding potential. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies 1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

"The last vacation we took was in Florida. That was ages ago." City of the Plague God 2021-01-12T00:00:00Z

And maybe he’s right, because how can this woman even recognize her from the news reports of almost a year ago? A Heart in a Body in the World 2018-09-18T00:00:00Z

Then I said this: “Dad, I’ve been bothered about something somebody said to me a few days ago.” 100 Sideways Miles 2014-09-02T00:00:00Z

Especially considering that thirty seconds ago, I thought she might be dying. What If It's Us 2018-10-09T00:00:00Z

Kneeling before the box, she opened the diary and read a random entry dated September 24th, three years ago. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 1943-01-01T00:00:00Z

He wore a slightly disheveled look, as if he’d only woken up a few minutes ago. The Name of the Wind 2007-03-27T00:00:00Z

I know Jesus washed the feet of his disciples to cleanse them and make them feel part of the Church blah blahdeblah blah blah, but that was about a million years ago. P.S. I Miss You 2017-09-26T00:00:00Z

Ah, there’s the Claire that was missing half an hour ago. Ask the Passengers 2012-10-23T00:00:00Z

“We were just talking, officers,” Mr. Lewis says, much softer than he was minutes ago. The Hate U Give 2017-02-28T00:00:00Z

“SC, mi hija. It happened a couple of weeks ago. Didn’t you get my letters?” The Red Umbrella 2010-04-25T00:00:00Z

Otto had figured that out five minutes ago, but was too winded to speak. The Last Last-Day-of-Summer 2019-04-02T00:00:00Z

Once, long ago, he had sawed golf balls in half, trying to find out what was inside; but at some point in his life my brother had become fascinated with the interior of the mind. Middlesex: A Novel 2002-06-05T00:00:00Z

“Few minutes ago. Sort of wedged down the edge of the rink.” Black Swan Green 2006-04-10T00:00:00Z

They went away and left me there, with a uniformed officer—the one with the neck acne who came to Cathy’s flat in Ashbury a lifetime ago—standing at the door, avoiding my eye. The Girl on the Train 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z

She knew nothing about him except the word he had called out to her years ago and the feeling he had excited in her then. Sula 1973-11-01T00:00:00Z

“About a month ago, a great white shark swam into his net by accident. An eighteen-footer.” The Line Tender 2019-04-16T00:00:00Z

Sixty years ago, when he wrote Mind the Stop, G. V. Carey gave just one paragraph to the apo-strophe, because there was so little to say about it. Eats, Shoots & Leaves 2003-11-06T00:00:00Z

My dad's mother, Grandma Beverly, passed away a long time ago. The House That Lou Built 2018-06-12T00:00:00Z

“I’m not sure you ever got a look at me. And I guess it must have been a long time ago...for you.” Kindred 1979-06-01T00:00:00Z

Everything else, their time at Warings, the Red Room, his mother and Mr Hooper, his hatred, all that seemed years and years ago, he could scarcely remember it. I'm the King of the Castle 1970-09-03T00:00:00Z

It was amazing how Waverly still sounded the way she did twenty- five years ago, when we were ten and she had announced to me in that same voice, “You aren’t a genius like me.” The Joy Luck Club 1989-01-01T00:00:00Z

“My daughters were married years ago. Both are busy with their own lives in faraway villages. I have no sons.” Rickshaw Girl 2007-02-01T00:00:00Z

And just like he did two seconds ago, he stood in front of the half-opened door and started talking. Wonder 2012-02-14T00:00:00Z

“Father, someone tried to help us a few minutes ago. I think he’s dying,” Tendai said. The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm 1994-04-01T00:00:00Z

“Two days ago! I seed it too. His mum chucked a rock at him ’cause he tooken some food! Gathering Blue 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z

One hundred and fifty years ago, the monster began, this country had become a place of industry. A Monster Calls 2011-05-05T00:00:00Z

It was some time before he went on, as if he were recalling the words to mind from long ago. Inkheart 2003-09-23T00:00:00Z

She was a French mouse who had arrived at the castle long ago in the luggage of a visiting French diplomat. The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread 2003-08-25T00:00:00Z

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement 2011-02-01T00:00:00Z

Then all listened while Elrond in his clear voice spoke of Sauron and the Rings of Power, and their forging in the Second Age of the world long ago. The Fellowship of the Ring 1954-07-29T00:00:00Z

Gat in a worn green T-shirt from two summers ago. We Were Liars 2014-05-13T00:00:00Z

“But all that was a long time ago—I don’t even remember how many years ago that happened in Las Cruces.” Ceremony: 1977-03-01T00:00:00Z

“You have grown fast since the day we were married, and that not so long ago.” Nectar in a Sieve 1954-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Ten thousand years ago,” whispers Frederick, “they came through here in the millions. When this place was a garden, one endless garden from end to end.” All the Light We Cannot See 2014-05-06T00:00:00Z

Now Harry came to think of it, he had not seen Dumbledore since their private lesson a week ago. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 2005-07-16T00:00:00Z

He’d left hours ago, headed downtown to pick up money people owed him for some chickens he had sold. X: A Novel 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z

Long ago my Abue told me that within me I held all of the family dreams. Beast Rider 2019-03-01T00:00:00Z

Then I take a copy of Feed off the shelves and try to remember where I left off reading, a number of bodies ago. Every Day 2012-08-28T00:00:00Z

The closest I’d come was a freak hailstorm a few years ago, but that didn’t count. Keep It Together, Keiko Carter 2020-05-05T00:00:00Z

"I loved the hand tokens, too," Valerie says, "from two seasons ago." The Belles 2018-02-06T00:00:00Z

The sauce Chris was talking about was something my mother taught me to make a long time ago. The Boy in the Black Suit 2015-01-06T00:00:00Z

Two days ago, climbing on a spire of rock, she had spied water to the south, a slender thread that glittered briefly as the sun was going down. A Dance with Dragons 2011-07-12T00:00:00Z

Asked if she had forgiven the DAR, Anderson replied, “Ages and ages ago. You lose a lot of time hating people.” The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights 2004-05-25T00:00:00Z

That had been two days ago, and ever since then she’d called in sick to work and stayed home, spending every second with Luke. Among the Hidden 1998-03-01T00:00:00Z

An eccentric nobleman of my acquaintance, some years ago, quietly bought a castle without telling his wife. Words Like Loaded Pistols 2011-10-20T00:00:00Z

“Your father? You think I look stupid? Everyone knows that stories in books are as old as the hills and were written by people dead and buried long ago.” Inkheart 2003-09-23T00:00:00Z

He thinks of the last time he’d seen his father, three months ago: the image of him waving good-bye as he and Maxine pulled out of the driveway on their way to New Hampshire. The Namesake 2003-09-01T00:00:00Z

Some years ago I knew a gay and inventive family from Idaho. Travels with Charley in Search of America 1962-01-01T00:00:00Z

Hernando filled in, “He chopped a whole bunch of people up, long time ago.” Tangerine 1997-01-01T00:00:00Z

Where long ago, on the day that Sophie Mol came, Ambassador E. Pelvis stirred a pot of scarlet jam and thought Two Thoughts. The God of Small Things 1997-01-01T00:00:00Z

How long ago the Greeks tried to destroy everything Jewish. Milkweed 2003-09-09T00:00:00Z

A few short months ago, I’d seen it as a magic carpet, carrying me to my dreams. Hattie Big Sky 2006-09-26T00:00:00Z

“When you asked for my hand a few minutes ago, I was still too young to marry.” Ella Enchanted 1998-09-01T00:00:00Z

“He don't talk. That don’t mean he can’t. Only reason he don’t is cause he found his wife in bed with another man long time ago, and ain’t found nothing to say since then.” Song of Solomon 1977-01-01T00:00:00Z

“My dad was shot by the Oakland police six years ago. They said it was a mistake.” Anger Is a Gift 2018-05-22T00:00:00Z

Three days ago, Chameleon laid her first egg. Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer 2015-05-12T00:00:00Z

I can only imagine how much worse it would have been sixty years ago, before you could google vitiligo and find out what it really was. How to Disappear Completely 2020-04-28T00:00:00Z

"Looking better than a second ago. We're waiting on the ambulance. This fella right here knew just what to do, though." The Sky at Our Feet 2018-03-06T00:00:00Z

Forty-eight hours ago, I was just a regular girl observing wildlife. Hello, Universe 2017-03-14T00:00:00Z

I can’t believe a minute ago I was trying to find Isabella so I could say I’m sorry. A Good Kind of Trouble 2019-03-12T00:00:00Z

But that bridge had been burned a long time ago, and Jon himself had thrown the torch. A Dance with Dragons 2011-07-12T00:00:00Z

A few months ago, he got up in front of the congregation and ranted about how parents don’t need to hug and kiss their sons because it makes them gay. On the Come Up 2019-02-05T00:00:00Z

Four years ago, in 2016, we stood at a precipice as a nation. Red, White & Royal Blue 2019-05-14T00:00:00Z

“Jesus Sílva has come from El Puerto. I spoke to him just minutes ago and came running to warn you! You know his word is gold!” Bless Me, Ultima 1972-01-01T00:00:00Z

Three summers ago, she had come here with Nin to trade with the hunter-trapper families who lived in the cabins peppered throughout the mountains. The Reader 2016-01-12T00:00:00Z

Isobel racks her brain for the last time she felt under the weather and she can only come up with a head cold she had a decade ago, the winter before she met Marco. The Night Circus 2011-09-13T00:00:00Z

I could have sworn that just a few seconds ago I was twenty-three, and now here I am in this wretched, desiccated body. Water for Elephants 2006-05-26T00:00:00Z

Somewhere in those inkblots there were answers I had known just a little while ago. Flowers for Algernon 1959-05-01T00:00:00Z

“Andrius said that an hour ago, a long train came in. Someone told him it was full of men,” whispered Jonas. Between Shades of Gray 2011-03-22T00:00:00Z

“You were seen at the enemy camp three days ago. And you were talking with one of the troops there.” The Alchemist 1988-01-01T00:00:00Z

“You’re not hiding, though. And why are you here now? The Laughing Locusts were months ago.” The Last Last-Day-of-Summer 2019-04-02T00:00:00Z

Max had married Valerie back a million years ago, it seemed like, at Miracle School, where she worked as a potion ladler. The Princess Bride 1973-11-01T00:00:00Z

A few weeks ago, I might have said yes. How to Disappear Completely 2020-04-28T00:00:00Z

I said, at last, in answer to some other ricocheted questions, “I left the church twenty years ago and I haven’t joined anything since.” The Fire Next Time 1963-01-21T00:00:00Z

Twelve hours ago I received the phone call telling me I’m going to die today, and I’m more alive now than I was then. They Both Die at the End 2017-09-05T00:00:00Z

Axel slaps the window, just like Lark did a moment ago, open palmed. A Bird Will Soar 2021-10-19T00:00:00Z

It had been contaminated with toxic chemicals over a century ago. The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm 1994-04-01T00:00:00Z

I thought they likely were rushing to the place where Cade Hernandez and I had jumped into the Little Buffalo River, and how long ago was that, anyway? 100 Sideways Miles 2014-09-02T00:00:00Z

Two years ago I got into one of the best high schools in Manhattan: Executive Pre-Professional High School. It’s Kind of a Funny Story 2006-04-02T00:00:00Z

And she crawled through the little door into the tunnel; and that dark place among the rafters which had seemed so exciting and adventurous a few hours ago, seemed quite tame and homely now. The Magician's Nephew 1955-05-02T00:00:00Z

“Didn’t they move to Columbia a few years ago?” The Parker Inheritance 2018-03-27T00:00:00Z

I had been in a hobbit glade like three minutes ago. Everything Sad Is Untrue 2020-08-25T00:00:00Z

But then, just seven days ago, Nate had received a letter. I Survived the American Revolution, 1776 2017-08-01T00:00:00Z

"He wanted to be gone an hour ago." A Game of Thrones 1997-08-04T00:00:00Z

He explained to her how much more angry people were about the war than a year ago when she went over. Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam 2018-04-10T00:00:00Z

Kristina is lying on my bed, dressed in sweats, looking awesome, even though I know she probably rolled out of bed five minutes ago, hasn’t showered and probably hasn’t even brushed her teeth. Ask the Passengers 2012-10-23T00:00:00Z

In fact, some two months ago, I was most happy to learn that Sir James was to visit Darlington Hall. The Remains of the Day 1989-05-01T00:00:00Z

It was true in its way, even if her husband had released her from the promise she’d made eighteen years ago, when she was only a girl. Strange the Dreamer 2017-03-28T00:00:00Z

And until a few months ago, I had never even heard of vitiligo. How to Disappear Completely 2020-04-28T00:00:00Z

He came to a tangle of iron and wire: some sort of machine, long ago buried and forgotten. Stormbreaker 2000-09-04T00:00:00Z

Not long ago I had a piece of glass work out of my head. In Cold Blood 1966-01-01T00:00:00Z

She had seen Lizzie not two minutes ago leaving the storeroom office. The City of Ember 2003-05-01T00:00:00Z

Sure eneuch, we had a fair way and deep water all the time; and two days ago, when the mornin’ sun came through the fog, we found ourselves just in the river opposite Galatz. Dracula 1897-05-26T00:00:00Z

Before independence, the Portuguese had a palm-oil plantation here, cleared out of virgin jungle a half-century ago. The Poisonwood Bible 1998-01-01T00:00:00Z

Was it really just five months ago that I was last up here? Everything, Everything 2015-09-01T00:00:00Z

Once, long ago, a prince had named him Barristan the Bold. A Dance with Dragons 2011-07-12T00:00:00Z

She was anxious about seeing Benny again after their super-weird conversation a couple of days ago. The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street 2017-10-03T00:00:00Z

“Why do you have to keep dragging it up, Matt? It was three years ago. It has nothing to do with the jam were in now.” Adrift 1986-01-01T00:00:00Z

And then one day two years ago, when we were doing homework together, she said, ‘Hey?’ Adrift 1986-01-01T00:00:00Z

“A lady I met a long time ago.” The Haunting of Hill House 1959-10-01T00:00:00Z

“Oh! he thrashed him well enough a year or two ago,” said Mademoiselle. The Awakening 1899-01-01T00:00:00Z

Just a month ago Marrero had been found at the foot of a cliff, having supposedly lost control of his car. In the Time of the Butterflies 1994-01-01T00:00:00Z

The museum had been a courthouse long ago and was now home to a vast and extraordinary collection of Mardi Gras artifacts and memorabilia. Zeitoun 2009-07-15T00:00:00Z

“Uncle Jack is the sweetest man you’ll ever meet. I’ve known him since your father and I started dating twenty-three years ago. Can’t say he’s always lucid, but he’s still a delight.” Fast Pitch 2021-08-31T00:00:00Z

I didn’t think that was something Doc could actually do, but a few days ago I didn’t believe spirits could come back from the beyond and talk to us, so what did I really know? Root Magic 2021-01-05T00:00:00Z

She had placed Cora with the Andersons, those months ago. The Underground Railroad: A Novel 2016-08-02T00:00:00Z

Her father had been standing right there a minute ago. Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story 2016-06-28T00:00:00Z

Years ago, Lupa had taught her how to sleep lightly, wake up alert and be ready to attack. Blood of Olympus 2014-10-07T00:00:00Z

He was eating like he hadn't had any food since the last time Jazz cooked, which was three days ago. When I Was the Greatest 2014-01-07T00:00:00Z

James Randall had bought him and three other slaves from a traveling agent after the fever deaths a year and a half ago. The Underground Railroad: A Novel 2016-08-02T00:00:00Z

"Well . . . that's fine, I guess," Mike said, "but you need to do your assigned work first. I asked for those satellite adjustments two weeks ago and you still haven't done them." The Martian 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

Even knowing how much he suffered, I can’t help but be angry at the betrayal that happened so long ago. Finding Junie Kim 2021-05-04T00:00:00Z

“I had it developed a while ago. It’s from Christmas.” The Book of Unknown Americans 2014-06-03T00:00:00Z

“Didn’t I ask you to wash those pots hours ago?” An Ember in the Ashes 2015-04-28T00:00:00Z

You left three months ago, but it feels like longer. P.S. I Miss You 2017-09-26T00:00:00Z

She probably didn’t remember playing there among the flowers the last time Papá brought us to see his mother so long ago. Summer of the Mariposas 2012-10-20T00:00:00Z

But Charles was certain that the earth was formed much longer ago than that and was still being formed. Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z

Hazel was certain that he hadn’t been there a second ago. The House of Hades 2013-10-08T00:00:00Z

The sun set early in winter, but a little light still filtered in through the lace curtains Aunt Rose had crocheted long ago when she and her husband had first been married. Ophie's Ghosts 2021-05-18T00:00:00Z

“That long ago? He knew already that long ago?” The Chosen 1967-04-28T00:00:00Z

“Met Bong, our parents died a long time ago. We are orphans and have been living with different families, but they no longer want us.” First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z

All the other subdivisions from the brochures turned out to exist— most of them on the north side of town, which had been totally developed a long time ago. Paper Towns 2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

The chops I had put out to defrost over two months ago were still icy. Kindred 1979-06-01T00:00:00Z

Here and there a Luddite holdout refuses to open an email account, just as thousands of years ago some human bands refused to take up farming and so escaped the luxury trap. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

So much seems like a long time ago. Sparrow 2017-10-10T00:00:00Z

And he and Mom ran it together until Dad’s car accident two years ago. I Survived the Eruption of Mount St. Helens, 1980 2016-08-01T00:00:00Z

The only thing she knew was that whatever she had set out to do a year ago, things had changed. The Reader 2016-01-12T00:00:00Z

“I left you a note a couple of days ago. I thought we should talk—” “I didn’t get a note.” The Girl on the Train 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z

A few years ago he sent her a photograph of himself addressing a gathering of middle-class Punjabi widows at a spiritual camp. The God of Small Things 1997-01-01T00:00:00Z

When Dylan was admitted overnight three years ago for a heart scare, I was really bummed I couldn’t stay there with him, so I skipped school the next day to hang out. What If It's Us 2018-10-09T00:00:00Z

Nine hours ago I was playing in Green Acres. Ghost Boys 2018-04-17T00:00:00Z

He could handle a basketball with remarkable dexterity for one who had abandoned the court so long ago. The Great Santini 1976-01-01T00:00:00Z

Didn’t she ask me, just two hours ago, to doubledate to this movie tomorrow night? The Help 2009-02-10T00:00:00Z

Certain Australian surf bathers, several years ago, were stung by tiny creatures that turned out to be nudibranchs armed with the stingers of Portuguese men-of-war. The Lives of a Cell 1974-01-01T00:00:00Z

Frodo stood still, hearing far off great seas upon beaches that had long ago been washed away, and sea-birds crying whose race had perished from the earth. The Fellowship of the Ring 1954-07-29T00:00:00Z

Much smaller, I thought, and not nearly so menacing, and in the bright sunlight it was hard to picture what had happened on this ground some twenty years ago. The Things They Carried 1990-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Yep. And Jupiter. Who left about twenty minutes ago for a volunteer thing she couldn’t cancel.” Odd One Out 2018-08-09T00:00:00Z

But then he said, “Four years ago they transferred him.” Darius the Great Is Not Okay 2018-08-28T00:00:00Z

The AMC, founded over 120 years ago, is not only the oldest hiking club in America but the oldest conservation group of any type. A Walk in the Woods 1997-11-01T00:00:00Z

Two days ago, he’d lost a lifelong dream, his chance to prove his manhood, and his opportunity to fulfill a family tradition. Beasts of Prey 2021-09-28T00:00:00Z

After being honorably discharged seven years ago, Uncle Jet lived out of his duffel bag in California, Nevada, and even Colorado. Healer of the Water Monster 2021-05-11T00:00:00Z

He raced in circles around the tractor, a habit he had picked up years ago when my father would plow or mow and sometimes flush quail or partridge hidden in the field. Z for Zachariah 1976-07-29T00:00:00Z

“Ah, here is what we need. About fifteen years ago hatboxes were made like this. You skewered through the hat with a hatpin on to this hump of wire netting.” Murder on the Orient Express 1934-01-01T00:00:00Z

I didn’t say it was a month ago and I was too lazy to fix it again. My Brother Sam is Dead 1974-01-01T00:00:00Z

Part of me felt like it was only yesterday that I was sitting in my classes in Cuba, but at the same time, it seemed like a lifetime ago. The Red Umbrella 2010-04-25T00:00:00Z

“I’m sorry, baby, you can’t go,” his mother had told him a few weeks ago. Gregor the Overlander 2003-09-01T00:00:00Z

‘It is a lie that comes from the Enemy. I know the Men of Rohan, true and valiant, our allies, dwelling still in the lands that we gave them long ago.’ The Fellowship of the Ring 1954-07-29T00:00:00Z

The world in which she now found herself was not unlike the world from which she had, so long ago, been rescued. Go Tell It on the Mountain 1953-05-18T00:00:00Z

It seemed so long since I had used it, and yet it was only four months ago. Rebecca 1938-08-01T00:00:00Z

“I was in my youth. Which was a very, very long time ago.” The Night Circus 2011-09-13T00:00:00Z

Almost as though Abigail were speaking to her, only her, from long ago and far away. Orphan Island 2017-05-30T00:00:00Z

I did not even cry for the boy who had learned to play a lute with six strings in the forest years ago. The Name of the Wind 2007-03-27T00:00:00Z

She was left with the desolate certainty that her father would have done again what he did fifteen years ago. Strange the Dreamer 2017-03-28T00:00:00Z

“That’s the wrong direction. We need to go across, not back. Magic left this earth a long time ago—we won’t find it in the past.” Dragons in a Bag 2018-10-23T00:00:00Z

And I imagined our forebears a century ago, the ancestors Papa-Nnukwu prayed to, charging in to defend their hamlet, coming back with lolling heads on long sticks. Purple Hibiscus 2003-10-01T00:00:00Z

“There were falconers here in the woods. I saw them. They left about an hour ago, soon after the nice woodland coyote killed one of their birds. “I have some good news for you. On the Far Side of the Mountain 1990-01-01T00:00:00Z

“That was a long time ago. Anyway, I’ve had a fine life. The circus has been good to me.” The Mysterious Benedict Society 2008-04-01T00:00:00Z

Benji ran his finger over the spot in the table where he’d etched his name in the wood with a fork years ago. Millionaires for the Month 2020-09-01T00:00:00Z

Helmuth wears the same clothes he wore the day of his arrest, seven months ago. The Boy Who Dared 2008-02-01T00:00:00Z

Years ago she was on the fast track: modeling for Jet magazine, appearing in local television commercials, and competing in beauty pageants. Like Vanessa 2018-03-13T00:00:00Z

Glimpse how ages ago and even now, water brushes, curving and carving the land. Paradise on Fire 2021-09-14T00:00:00Z

Dude #2: Like years ago, remember that one time in The Wells? Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago 1997-01-01T00:00:00Z

“I kind of guessed a long time ago. Except I thought maybe I was just seeing what I wanted to see.” Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda 2015-03-25T00:00:00Z

I had forgotten that stuff about paranoia in that magazine Lorraine gave me to read about seven months ago. The Pigman 1968-10-12T00:00:00Z

I’d stolen the trailer's battery long ago; it had no ability to move under its own power. The Martian 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Perhaps if you’d put on your little play fifty years ago it would have been a joke but the way science has progressed in that time, surely nothing is impossible....Scorchingly...” Spooked! 2018-08-07T00:00:00Z

And when it was dry, I stuffed it in the corner of my closet, underneath some old jeans I’d stopped wearing two years ago. Maybe He Just Likes You 2019-10-01T00:00:00Z

She and Uncle Lou came over for dinner a couple of nights ago, and we talked about everything from women's rights in India to the environment to preservation of endangered tigers. You Bring the Distant Near 2017-09-12T00:00:00Z

Kenny hasn't let it out of his sight since he got it for his birthday three weeks ago. Things Not Seen 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Oh sure, I just arrived nine days ago and I’ve already staked him out.” Habibi 1997-10-01T00:00:00Z

“Almost a year ago, a family lost a father, a husband, and a tremendous writer,” Mrs. Priest says. Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero 2020-08-18T00:00:00Z

It might even have been true a month ago. Sparrow 2017-10-10T00:00:00Z

And she turned and walked out into the streets; not the same streets from which she had entered a moment ago. Go Tell It on the Mountain 1953-05-18T00:00:00Z

A moment ago the man had been cheering wildly, not understanding what was happening. The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War 1974-01-01T00:00:00Z

However, it had not been my intention to analyse here the various facets of this small episode from years ago. The Remains of the Day 1989-05-01T00:00:00Z

Njemile had coined that one a long time ago, and the name had stuck. Anger Is a Gift 2018-05-22T00:00:00Z

I know Oscar’s gone because I heard his motorcycle peel away over an hour ago. I'll Give You the Sun 2014-09-16T00:00:00Z

They need only racial indifference, as Martin Luther King Jr. warned more than forty-five years ago. The New Jim Crow 2010-01-05T00:00:00Z

The nature god had gone missing two thousand years ago. The Titan's Curse 2007-05-11T00:00:00Z

Finally, one of us here wonders whether you have an older sister who was at Girton six or seven years ago. Atonement 2001-09-20T00:00:00Z

It was hard to believe it was the same boy who had been kicking and screaming only a minute ago. The House of the Scorpion 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z

“You don’t know this, but Milton asked me to marry him a while ago. I said no. Now I’m going to write him and say yes.” Middlesex: A Novel 2002-06-05T00:00:00Z

I don't understand—she was smiling a few minutes ago. Starfish 2017-09-26T00:00:00Z

“I better go home. I want to dig through some of Lucy’s stuff before my mom gets home. She started cleaning her room out a few weeks ago.” Dumplin' 2015-09-15T00:00:00Z

I remembered something I had read somewhere a long time ago: That’s how children deal with terror. The Kite Runner 2003-05-01T00:00:00Z

Only for it we should have overtaken the boat long ago; and by now my dear Mina would have been free. Dracula 1897-05-26T00:00:00Z

A month ago, Rowan would have denied that he could ever become such a monster, but now he wasn’t so sure. Scythe 2016-11-22T00:00:00Z

‘But no! That came in his tale, long long ago. This is my tale, and it is ended now. Good-bye!’ The Return of the King 1955-10-20T00:00:00Z

She was describing a Baltimore of twenty-five years ago and a neighborhood neither she nor Joe could rent in, but she didn’t know that, and never knew it, because they went to the City instead. Jazz 1992-01-01T00:00:00Z

For almost a generation, psychologists around the world have been engaged in a spirited debate over a question that most of us would consider to have been settled years ago. Outliers 2008-11-18T00:00:00Z

Some 40,000 years ago, into Europe came the Cro-Magnons, with their modern skeletons, superior weapons, and other advanced cultural traits. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies 1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

It was a smell that pulled him downriver, up a mountain, and back through time to almost two weeks ago. A Wish in the Dark 2020-03-24T00:00:00Z

“She was ... Elza, it might have been. Or Ella. It was six years ago she died. I have owned so many slaves, Your Grace.” A Dance with Dragons 2011-07-12T00:00:00Z

“They used to have something similar to apartheid years ago, in what they call the southern states, but Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the others changed most of that.” Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography 1986-01-01T00:00:00Z

It’s the model of a brain he got for Christmas a couple of years ago. Merci Suárez Changes Gears 2018-09-11T00:00:00Z

He and I had made this recipe together two years ago, with Audrey watching. Keep It Together, Keiko Carter 2020-05-05T00:00:00Z

Gale’s hands close around the very bow that caught my attention a moment ago, and he hefts it onto his shoulder. Mockingjay 2010-08-24T00:00:00Z

The second call from him was this morning, just a few minutes ago. The Girl on the Train 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Slopper was allowed to hear Story a couple years ago, when he was your age. He didn’t even hear it all, and it didn’t turn out so well.” The Marrow Thieves 2017-05-10T00:00:00Z

They thought they couldn’t have children, but about eleven years ago she got pregnant. Orphan Train 2013-04-02T00:00:00Z

“A year ago we weren’t here. She wouldn’t have known Mayor. But if there had been a Mayor in México, then maybe.” The Book of Unknown Americans 2014-06-03T00:00:00Z

Bandits long ago intimidated any La Arrocera residents who considered testifying. Enrique's Journey 2006-02-21T00:00:00Z

“Yeah, a wallet went missing a week ago and today you happen to walk by.” It All Comes Down to This 2017-07-11T00:00:00Z

I love him and all I can think, all I can hear in my mind, are the words I said to him a few days ago: I would never deliver you to your own execution. Allegiant 2013-10-22T00:00:00Z

Perhaps it was because she reminded me so much of another little girl from another time long ago. Wishtree 2017-09-26T00:00:00Z

Years ago a friend and I were served hickory milk in rural Georgia by an eccentric backwoods artist named St. EOM who claimed Creek descent. 1491 2005-10-10T00:00:00Z

“Three and a half months ago when you were...gone. Like you always are.” Liar, Liar 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

There was a guy like that a few years ago from District called Titus. The Hunger Games 2008-09-14T00:00:00Z

A few days ago she turned the small rod on her bedroom doorknob by mistake and then couldn't figure out how to pop it back and unlock the door. How the García Girls Lost Their Accents 1991-01-04T00:00:00Z

"Hardly. She just arrived in this country a few months ago." The Catcher in the Rye 1951-07-16T00:00:00Z

It had begun a long time ago—eleven years ago, in the autumn of 1948, when Wells was nineteen. In Cold Blood 1966-01-01T00:00:00Z

And three weeks ago, for the first time ever, she had not invited him to her birthday party. Wringer 1997-08-16T00:00:00Z

A few weeks ago, I would have volunteered to go on the suicide mission myself—and I did. Allegiant 2013-10-22T00:00:00Z

Octavian, of whom I have written, and William Williams, another servant of the College of Lucidity in the days of our ascendancy, set forth seven days ago with a foraging detail navigating the Rappahannock River. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves 2009-10-13T00:00:00Z

The last time he was here was two years ago, when Georgie graduated from high school. Millionaires for the Month 2020-09-01T00:00:00Z

Morning, it was morning, and it was the very same song she remembered from that other island, so long ago. The Birchbark House 1999-07-21T00:00:00Z

Fifty years ago Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. Women in Space 2014-02-01T00:00:00Z

His side of the bench was probably still warm because he’d left only a minute ago. Thirteen Reasons Why 2007-10-18T00:00:00Z

“She already ate. Just a half hour ago.” The Help 2009-02-10T00:00:00Z

Around 13,000 years ago, as glaciers melted rapidly all over the world, conditions in Japan changed spectacularly for the better, as far as humans were concerned. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies 1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

“Yup, it looks like your form was turned in about a month ago, and that it was all filled out correctly.” The Benefits of Being an Octopus 2018-09-04T00:00:00Z

Dear Diary, If four years ago someone would have told me that Ms. G was going to last more than a month, I would have laughed straight in their face. The Freedom Writers Diary 1999-10-12T00:00:00Z

“When there are too many thoughts swirling around in my head, I let my hand take over,” Mom had said a few years ago. Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World 2018-03-06T00:00:00Z

The country he had left thirty years ago had been a realistic place. Zeitoun 2009-07-15T00:00:00Z

God, that was only a couple months ago. Bodega Dreams 2000-03-14T00:00:00Z

“It’s my mother from long ago. She doesn’t mean harm. Most of the time, she sleeps like now. Or just sits and stares.” Ninth Ward 2010-08-16T00:00:00Z

"Five minutes ago,” Mr. Kempsey said, "a telephone call was channeled to myself. This telephone call was regarding Jason Taylor. From a well-wisher.” Black Swan Green 2006-04-10T00:00:00Z

Who could have imagined that when we first moved here so long ago? The Marvels 2015-09-15T00:00:00Z

It was a fine readymade one he’d ordered years ago when rich Mr. Sheffield was thought to be dying and didn’t. Cold Sassy Tree 1984-11-02T00:00:00Z

The appointment was for half an hour ago, and I’m still here, sitting in the reception room flicking through 1 ague, thinking about getting up and walking out. The Girl on the Train 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z

Until a few decades ago, bacteria were a genuine household threat, and although most of us survived them, we were always aware of the nearness of death. The Lives of a Cell 1974-01-01T00:00:00Z

Once the boards are back in place, Mrs. Bessermann slides under that bed, while Siunek crawls beneath the new one I bought off a junk cart five days ago. The Light in Hidden Places 2020-03-03T00:00:00Z

She was remembering the last wedding she had attended, could it be only a year ago? in Barbados. The Witch of Blackbird Pond 1958-12-01T00:00:00Z

“The old treasury. The vault was moved years ago. This was converted into a laboratory.” Six of Crows 2015-09-29T00:00:00Z

I think I know why Shoji accepted our Japanese side a long time ago. Starfish 2017-09-26T00:00:00Z

Imagine that 30,000 years ago one tribe defeated its neighbour and expelled it from coveted foraging grounds. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

Experts disagree about the exact date, but we have incontrovertible evidence of domesticated dogs from about 15,000 years ago. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

They should have died three days ago when he dropped a crate of bowling balls on them at the Napa Bargain Mart. The Son of Neptune 2011-10-04T00:00:00Z

Bernabe had bought it off the distinguished sculptor for a bottle of cheap tokay twelve years ago. The Milagro Beanfield War 1974-01-01T00:00:00Z

The Zoology Building has been torn down, it must have been years ago. Cat's Eye 1988-09-01T00:00:00Z

Maybe a few years ago, back when I would drive in to pick up Carla. How It Went Down 2014-10-21T00:00:00Z

The match must have finished hours ago...as had any hope of cornering Malfoy. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 2005-07-16T00:00:00Z

“That was a few weeks ago. But I'm sure she’s still fine,” he said. Endangered 2012-10-01T00:00:00Z

I said, “May, did you ever know a Deborah? Deborah Fontanel? A white woman from Virginia? It would have been a long time ago.” The Secret Life of Bees 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z

Imagine a time hundreds of thousands of years ago. Cosmos 1980-01-01T00:00:00Z

After we came home in the morning, we quietly ate leftovers from the party the night before, which felt like a million years ago. Amina's Voice 2017-03-14T00:00:00Z

"I keep thinking of all the shotgun shells I threw away about two months ago," he wrote. Into the Wild 1996-01-01T00:00:00Z

“It was a long time ago—” “Not even two years,” Chronicler protested. “—and I am not what I was,” Kote continued without pausing. The Name of the Wind 2007-03-27T00:00:00Z

It had been a few days ago, a weeknight he and Moushumi had both been too busy to celebrate properly. The Namesake 2003-09-01T00:00:00Z

“Ignatius comes home about a hour ago dressed up like a butcher.” A Confederacy of Dunces 1980-01-01T00:00:00Z

Tony had been overwhelmed by that load years ago. The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates 2010-04-27T00:00:00Z

But he is certain that it is much tougher for an immigrant to get ahead today than fifty years ago. Class Matters 2005-09-02T00:00:00Z

Stories they told me some thousands of nights ago. Everything Sad Is Untrue 2020-08-25T00:00:00Z

Mitraillette tried to dose me with knockout drops again a few minutes ago—30 minutes to oblivion. Code Name Verity 2012-05-15T00:00:00Z

Said Mr. Rao, “A few years ago nobody in America wanted to talk to us. Now they are eager.” The World Is Flat 2005-04-05T00:00:00Z

“No. You just switched to the upper class a few weeks ago—you can’t fall behind.” Amal Unbound 2018-05-08T00:00:00Z

“Long ago,” she says, “when man knew not greed, malice, tribe, nor clan, jinn walked the earth.” An Ember in the Ashes 2015-04-28T00:00:00Z

He thumbed through a file and said, “Madame Meursault came to us three years ago. You were her sole support.” The Stranger 1989-03-13T00:00:00Z

“I visited St. Petersburg several years ago and remember a phrase or two,” Gregory said. The City Beautiful 2021-10-05T00:00:00Z

He instructed the black woman to either his astonishment was ago at once and inform Madame Lebrun that Mrs. Pontellier desired to see her. The Awakening 1899-01-01T00:00:00Z

The comment had been left fifteen days ago. Paper Towns 2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

Experiments carried out about a decade ago showed that after treatment with this chemical there is a sharp increase in the nitrate content of corn and of sugar beets. Silent Spring 1962-09-27T00:00:00Z

I couldn’t stop thinking about the letters—the one my dad and Aunt Susie had found as kids, from this “other woman,” and the one I’d found a month ago, from Miss Peregrine. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 2011-06-07T00:00:00Z

Inside is the big scrapbook that Roli and I bought a few days ago. Merci Suárez Changes Gears 2018-09-11T00:00:00Z

Two nights ago, and again last night, she had awakened and thought she heard their voices downstairs. A Thousand Splendid Suns 2007-05-22T00:00:00Z

Two years ago, she had tried to evict them on the pretext that relatives from China were coming to live there. The Joy Luck Club 1989-01-01T00:00:00Z

I went back to the Devon School not long ago, and found it looking oddly newer than when I was a student there fifteen years before. A Separate Peace 1959-01-01T00:00:00Z

“It keeps them apart. If you’d put them together properly from the beginning, she would have broken him years ago.” The Night Circus 2011-09-13T00:00:00Z

“We evacuated this area almost two weeks ago. Where’ve you been, you don’t know that?” Pax 2016-02-02T00:00:00Z

He remembered his vision from afar upon Amon Hen, so few days before, though now it seemed many years ago. The Two Towers 1954-11-11T00:00:00Z

“It’s Aditya the Sun God/superhero. He created the character himself, a couple years ago.” When Dimple Met Rishi 2017-05-30T00:00:00Z

“It was on there for, what, three days? And that was over a week ago.” Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda 2015-03-25T00:00:00Z

She told us how, long ago, paper was scarce so women cut up old letters and newspaper articles to make patterns, then stuffed the paper between the quilt layers for extra insulation. Hope Springs 2021-08-10T00:00:00Z

He says it was given to him by his father, who passed away two years ago after contracting cancer. The Million Dollar Shot 1997-10-01T00:00:00Z

Years ago, in my earliest and pastiest days as a would-be writer, I once read a new story aloud to S. and Boo Boo. Franny and Zooey 1961-09-14T00:00:00Z

I run my finger over the words Mia and Jenna’s Log, Keep Away, which we carved into the soft bark a few summers ago using my father’s pocketknife. A Mango-Shaped Space 2003-04-16T00:00:00Z

Was this the kid sister he had last seen on Waterloo Station only three months ago, and now a member of an international elite? Atonement 2001-09-20T00:00:00Z

Clothes from five years ago, a braid long out of style. Out of Darkness 2015-09-01T00:00:00Z

He, Winston Smith, knew that Oceania had been in alliance with Eurasia as short a time as four years ago. 1984 1949-06-08T00:00:00Z

"She went to the Lyceum until a few months ago." Girl in the Blue Coat 2016-04-05T00:00:00Z

And that was—well, I couldn’t give you the date, but it must ’a been fifty years ago. 1984 1949-06-08T00:00:00Z

She remembers seeing robots at the World’s Fair ten years ago. Dreaming in Cuban 1992-01-01T00:00:00Z

“I knew something in that photo looked familiar. I think they’re standing in front of my old church building. The church moved to a new location a few years ago, before we moved here.” The Parker Inheritance 2018-03-27T00:00:00Z

"I see. Very well, then. It was years ago, Gabe. You were a little boy. I remember how mischievous you were in school. Sometimes inattentive." Son 2012-10-02T00:00:00Z

Papa had told her this long ago when discussing how much his parents had doted on him when he was a child. A Place to Belong 2019-05-14T00:00:00Z

“But that one there was one year old when he came, and that was three years ago.” Sula 1973-11-01T00:00:00Z

All I know for sure is that several months ago, Mr. Kreuk came to me with a stack of cards and asked if I would do some shopping. Girl in the Blue Coat 2016-04-05T00:00:00Z

It was the same one in which she’d seen the king those many months ago. Throne of Glass 2012-08-07T00:00:00Z

Years ago the farmers tried to draw more labor than they needed so that they could lower wages. Travels with Charley in Search of America 1962-01-01T00:00:00Z

I’m not sure Harriett running off an hour ago to celebrate a friend’s birthday and leaving me alone with Hudson was for the best, though. What If It's Us 2018-10-09T00:00:00Z

It’s the same height, but it used to be made of this worn wood that had probably been around since the hospital was founded sixty-some years ago. Five Feet Apart 2018-11-20T00:00:00Z

Like every other animal on this planet, we’re descended from a single-celled organism that lived millions of years ago. Ready Player One: A Novel 2011-08-16T00:00:00Z

Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax dropped by a half hour ago and was granted a few minutes of Lincoln’s time. Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever 2012-08-01T00:00:00Z

Dad had died a little more than a year ago. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close 2005-04-01T00:00:00Z

It turns out that the earliest Fertile Crescent crops, such as the wheat and barley and peas domesticated around 10,000 years ago, arose from wild ancestors offering many advantages. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies 1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

It seems so long ago, although barely a week has passed since that day. Amina's Song 2021-03-09T00:00:00Z

The colored one was far away and was rusty and looked as though it had long ago been abandoned on some junk pile. March Forward, Girl 2018-01-02T00:00:00Z

I was so glad we’d done an accounting section in math a couple of weeks ago or none of this would have made any sense to me. Liar, Liar 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

The league, in their view, was inherently fragile and fissiparous; if it had been founded a thousand years ago, it would have broken up well before the Pilgrims. 1491 2005-10-10T00:00:00Z

"My sixteen-year-old grandson was murdered fifteen years ago,” she said, "and I loved that boy more than life itself.” Just Mercy 2014-10-21T00:00:00Z

Robbie held the man's eye and answered pleasantly that his father had walked out long ago and that his mother was a charlady who supplemented her income as an occasional clairvoyant. Atonement 2001-09-20T00:00:00Z

Animals much like modern humans first appeared about 2.5 million years ago. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

“That man who caused the trouble in the store a while ago lives out west of Rose Hill— that’s on your road home, isn’t it?” Across Five Aprils 1964-01-01T00:00:00Z

“And there was a blonde-and-mysteriously-younger girl that a friend of mine saw Troy out with a few months ago, and he still hasn’t come up with a particularly satisfactory answer for that. So. Yeah.” Better Nate Than Ever 2013-02-05T00:00:00Z

Eight years ago, when I first met Siobhan, she showed me this picture and I knew that it meant “sad,” which is what I felt when I found the dead dog. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time 2003-05-01T00:00:00Z

When I met Ekman, he sat in his office and began running through the action-unit configurations he had learned so long ago. Blink 2005-01-11T00:00:00Z

They couldn’t sue over the cells being taken in the first place for several reasons, including the fact that the statute of limitations passed decades ago. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 2010-02-02T00:00:00Z

"Just remember how Mister Lincoln couldn't think of anything to say at the Gettysburg, but then, bang! Four score and once upon a time ago," she began reciting. How the García Girls Lost Their Accents 1991-01-04T00:00:00Z

“Couple years ago, he took me to an art fair in Miami Beach. I really love KJM’s work.” Turtles All the Way Down 2017-10-10T00:00:00Z

When three cubs were born ten weeks ago, rangers visited all fifty or so of the inhabited islands to share the good news. Tiger Boy 2015-10-01T00:00:00Z

I’d ridden the bus to the Lancaster University lab once before, years ago when Mom’s car wouldn’t start and she still needed to get to work. The Science of Breakable Things 2018-03-06T00:00:00Z

She had spawned one son, Francis, who in Jean Louise’s opinion looked and behaved like a horse, and who long ago left Maycomb for the glories of selling insurance in Birmingham. Go Set a Watchman: A Novel 2015-07-14T00:00:00Z

Petra didn’t think much about what racial category she belonged to—her family had let go of that way of looking at things a long time ago. Chasing Vermeer 2004-06-01T00:00:00Z

“A couple of biologists called a few months ago, but I never called back.” The Line Tender 2019-04-16T00:00:00Z

“Aye, the wedge slipped, when we were splitting a block of granite twenty years ago,” said the old one with a sidewise grin. The Golden Goblet 1961-04-24T00:00:00Z

Three days ago, I heard that two guards caught a man leaving the Hub after curfew. Internment 2019-03-07T00:00:00Z

“Some come exploring on purpose and never make it back, A long time ago, the Cretans even sent people in here as human sacrifices.” The Battle of the Labyrinth 2008-05-06T00:00:00Z

It’s the Survivalists that lobbied to retake the cities nearly a decade ago, the idea being that if the cities were safe they could provide an anchor to regain the continent. Dread Nation 2018-04-03T00:00:00Z

Mom smiles this cruel smile, saying, “Did you know, a hundred years ago, parents just kicked their kids out on the street? They had to fend for themselves. Like ‘Hansel and Gretel.’ Free Lunch 2019-09-10T00:00:00Z

“The Bronze Age? Goodness, I don’t know; about five thousand years ago,” she said. The Subtle Knife 1997-01-01T00:00:00Z

Still in them from the morning that feels forever ago. A Bird Will Soar 2021-10-19T00:00:00Z

“I had a scribbled note a couple of weeks ago.” Atonement 2001-09-20T00:00:00Z

“The Sixers must have bought it when it went up for auction a few years ago. And they’ve been sitting on it all this time, waiting for the perfect moment to detonate it.” Ready Player One: A Novel 2011-08-16T00:00:00Z

Up die hill from the campsite the same windstorm that left him a place to land the plane—had that only been three, four days ago?—had dropped three large white pines across each other. Hatchet 1987-01-01T00:00:00Z

Not long ago, I met Lio at a reception in honor of the girls. In the Time of the Butterflies 1994-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Gardens—where we grow the crops. Water’s pumped in through pipes in the ground—always has been, or we’d have starved to death a long time ago. Never rains here. Never.” The Maze Runner 2009-10-06T00:00:00Z

She, our study circle leader, pauses and says, “Two years ago. After I moved.” Saints and Misfits 2017-06-13T00:00:00Z

The cockney accent had disappeared; Winston suddenly realized whose voice it was that he had heard a few moments ago on the telescreen. 1984 1949-06-08T00:00:00Z

I’d discovered it about three years ago and had been a loyal reader ever since. Ready Player One: A Novel 2011-08-16T00:00:00Z

Jason had learned long ago that the best way to control a crowd of bullies was to pick the meanest, biggest kid and force him into submission. Blood of Olympus 2014-10-07T00:00:00Z

An image flashes in my mind of another wintry day, what seems like a lifetime ago, of me and Richard blowing on embers in a cold cabin, trying to coax up a fire. Blood on the River 2006-05-04T00:00:00Z

Eventually, however, after some searching, I found a signpost to 'Mortimer's Pond', and so it was that I arrived here at this spot a little over half an hour ago. The Remains of the Day 1989-05-01T00:00:00Z

The separate languages of the Indo-European family were at one time, perhaps five thousand years ago, maybe much longer, a single language. The Lives of a Cell 1974-01-01T00:00:00Z

It is something of a revelation that this memory from over thirty years ago should have remained with Miss Kenton as it has done with me. The Remains of the Day 1989-05-01T00:00:00Z

The coroner removed the bodies hours ago for autopsy, but Eduardo’s family still remains, unable to leave, as if waiting for his ghost to return to the place he was last alive. Native Speaker 1995-01-01T00:00:00Z

“About three hundred years ago, some Rusty figured a way to engineer the species to adapt to wider conditions. She messed with the genes to make them propagate more easily.” Uglies 2005-02-08T00:00:00Z

Zeitoun came to the I-10/Claiborne overpass again, and even from a distance he could see that the people who he had seen awaiting rescue there a few days ago had been taken away. Zeitoun 2009-07-15T00:00:00Z

And he said: “That’s exactly what I was about to say. I lost track of it a while ago.” Never Let Me Go 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z

“I wanted to jump out the window when I saw you a few weeks ago,” he said. Fever 1793 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z

Ten years ago, Tyrion had read a fragment of Unnatural History that had eluded the Blessed Baelor, but he doubted that any of Barth’s work had found its way across the narrow sea. A Dance with Dragons 2011-07-12T00:00:00Z

They looked like Rose’s grandmother had earned them a long time ago. The Stars Beneath Our Feet 2017-09-19T00:00:00Z

Years ago, we used to say, “Yes, I’m black, goddammit, and I’m beautiful!”—in defiance, into the void. The Fire Next Time 1963-01-21T00:00:00Z

It's been written in me for a long time, so I know I've written it in you a long time ago. Sunny 2018-04-10T00:00:00Z

Yet a part of him was prepared to forgive it if that would bring back those evenings of long ago, when she argued with Master in a living room that smelled of brandy and beer. Half of a Yellow Sun 2006-09-12T00:00:00Z

When Ruth and I were remembering all this a few years ago, she claimed there were dozens of these magazines circulating around the Cottages. Never Let Me Go 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Remember, its skin tried to turn us against each other a few minutes ago.” Root Magic 2021-01-05T00:00:00Z

Dear Diary, I’m going to tell you about the crazy mess I got myself into a couple days ago. The Freedom Writers Diary 1999-10-12T00:00:00Z

I noticed that scar a few weeks ago. Thirteen Reasons Why 2007-10-18T00:00:00Z

Henri Bonnet said, “All that fighting we did twenty-five years ago. All those dead. Now the Germans back in France. In two days they’ll be here, taking everything we have. Who would have believed it?” Atonement 2001-09-20T00:00:00Z

A few weeks ago I was at a party that some friends were giving for this very real boy who had just returned from Israel. A Confederacy of Dunces 1980-01-01T00:00:00Z

The nickname began generations ago, but each generation took on the mantle of justifying it. The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates 2010-04-27T00:00:00Z

I kept staring at the fissure in the marble floor where two years ago Nico had banished a bunch of bloodthirsty skeletons to the Underworld. The Last Olympian 2009-05-05T00:00:00Z

Years ago, his mother had told him that their family name, Zhang, meant “master of bows” in Chinese. The Son of Neptune 2011-10-04T00:00:00Z

I had received the sign six years ago. Salt to the Sea 2016-02-02T00:00:00Z

‘My grandfather died in this room. Not very long ago, either. He lay and died in that bed. Now it's your bed.’ I'm the King of the Castle 1970-09-03T00:00:00Z

“Why are you sad today, Melly-Belly?” she asked me one morning a couple of years ago. Out of My Mind 2010-03-09T00:00:00Z

The library was even cooler than it had been a week ago, and darker, since the only light came through windows that were stained yellow and didn’t let in all that much. Okay for Now 2011-04-05T00:00:00Z

Scientists also agree that about 70,000 years ago, Sapiens from East Africa spread into the Arabian peninsula, and from there they quickly overran the entire Eurasian landmass. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

Homo sapiens was the first and only human species to reach the western hemisphere landmass, arriving about 16,000 years ago, that is in or around 14,000 BC. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

His tan has faded, but otherwise he looks exactly the same as he did all those months ago. Starfish 2017-09-26T00:00:00Z

Maybe if I really had been brave, I would’ve told Julia a long time ago how her ditching us made me feel. A Good Kind of Trouble 2019-03-12T00:00:00Z

“I sure do. She was here only fifteen minutes ago, fat and beautiful.” On the Far Side of the Mountain 1990-01-01T00:00:00Z

“A long, long time ago; when I first started with the department.” Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 1968-01-02T00:00:00Z

According to my grail diary, I’d played the game through to the end just once, all in one day, over four years ago. Ready Player One: A Novel 2011-08-16T00:00:00Z

Can’t help but think it: God checked out a long time ago. X: A Novel 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z

She is a year older than I was when the Khmer Rouge took over the country three years ago. First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Years ago people, other people, not us, they kinda got sick. Really the whole world itself got sick.” The Marrow Thieves 2017-05-10T00:00:00Z

The barn and the farmhouse burned down years ago—before my parents bought the property and built a one-story brick rancher. Red Kayak 2004-09-23T00:00:00Z

It was a thick paperback, full of logic games and brain teasers that she’d solved years ago. The Parker Inheritance 2018-03-27T00:00:00Z

Mrs. Murphy’s husband died a decade ago, I learn, leaving her with this big old house and little money. Orphan Train 2013-04-02T00:00:00Z

I try to make it look as if initials had been carved in it a long time ago. Speak 1999-10-01T00:00:00Z

I look at Daddy and remember that moment weeks ago in front of the store. The Hate U Give 2017-02-28T00:00:00Z

He was perhaps on his way up to the eminence from which Estraven, less than a year ago, had. fallen. The Left Hand of Darkness 1969-03-01T00:00:00Z

Here now with Daddy that seems like such a long time ago, but I’m glad I took the pictures of Alabama in my head. Finding Langston 2018-08-14T00:00:00Z

“Everybody calls it the Cold Sassy tree. Back a hundred years ago it was a big sassafras grove there, and the wagoners goin’ through said that was the coldest spot between the mountains and Augusta. Cold Sassy Tree 1984-11-02T00:00:00Z

A couple of hours ago, at around ten, that wave came out of the second section to the left of where the lightning strikes now. Catching Fire 2009-09-01T00:00:00Z

“And from what I heard a moment ago, it sounds as though you could all use my help.” Ready Player One: A Novel 2011-08-16T00:00:00Z

Despite his math background, he had long ago stopped thinking in numbers. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything 2005-04-12T00:00:00Z

Papa died almost two years ago, while they were sailing home from a trip to the Caribbean islands. I Survived the American Revolution, 1776 2017-08-01T00:00:00Z

“I hope you’ve taken my inadequacies into account. I’m not as coldproof as you, nowhere near it. I’m no expert on skis. I’m not in good shape—though much improved from a few days ago.” The Left Hand of Darkness 1969-03-01T00:00:00Z

Our schedules had arrived a few weeks ago. Keep It Together, Keiko Carter 2020-05-05T00:00:00Z

“Ages ago. Can you bring me more books?” The Graveyard Book 2008-09-30T00:00:00Z

His curly brown hair and beard had more grey streaks than a few months ago. Blood of Olympus 2014-10-07T00:00:00Z

“No need to be sorry. He died eight years ago. Anyway, I am ninety- one years old. Not many people I once knew are still alive.” Orphan Train 2013-04-02T00:00:00Z

He was precisely the boy Mrs. Shigemura had described for her so many years ago when she’d spoken of loye and marriage, and now she kissed him, hard, because of that. Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel 1994-09-12T00:00:00Z

It was three years ago when my dad lost it. Ghost 2016-08-30T00:00:00Z

When the strait was at last flooded around 10,000 years ago, Tasmanians and mainland Australians became cut off from each other because neither group possessed watercraft capable of negotiating Bass Strait. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies 1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

I was wearing a pair of pants that used to be Newcharlie's and the green shirt Ty'ree had given me a long time ago. Miracle's Boys 2000-04-23T00:00:00Z

And as her gaze fell on us, a chill passed through me, much like the one I’d felt years ago that time we’d waylaid her outside the main house. Never Let Me Go 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z

Percy studied the constellations—the ones Annabeth had taught him so many years ago. The House of Hades 2013-10-08T00:00:00Z

"Well, we haven't got any yet. And we want shelters. Besides, the rest of your hunters came back hours ago. They've been swimming." Lord of the Flies 1954-09-17T00:00:00Z

I hadn’t seen the yard man since my mother replaced him three years ago, and Mr. Barron had vanished from my life after eighth grade. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 2011-06-07T00:00:00Z

Then he began to ask questions about the Chandrian That was months ago. The Name of the Wind 2007-03-27T00:00:00Z

“If it hadn’t been for this place, I’d have run barking mad years ago,” the bodyguard said. The House of the Scorpion 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z

Less than ten million years ago, the first creatures who closely resembled human beings evolved, accompanied by a spectacular increase in brain size. Cosmos 1980-01-01T00:00:00Z

Two years ago I got sick at school and he was called in to take me to the hospital. Bronx Masquerade 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z

He hadn’t done anything so completely wrong since he fell in love with Cammy; didn’t that seem like a lifetime ago now. Typical American 1991-01-01T00:00:00Z

"Every poor person in England used to wash that way until not so very long ago. And they didn't have a Primus. They had to heat the water over the fire in the hearth." Matilda 1988-10-01T00:00:00Z

That was three years ago, the same time Momma’s first letter arrived. Hope Springs 2021-08-10T00:00:00Z

A long, long time ago She had come from Her bottomless pool to join with the murderer Cain. Beowulf: A New Telling 1968-01-01T00:00:00Z

It seemed a long time ago that they had sat making up those predictions together, and Hermione had turned up and appointed them secretary and treasurer. Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire 2000-07-08T00:00:00Z

It arrived only a few days ago and is still a novelty. The Night Circus 2011-09-13T00:00:00Z

‘I saw my grandfather dead. That wasn’t long ago.’ I'm the King of the Castle 1970-09-03T00:00:00Z

Not only that, they turned up suggestive indications of human habitation more than 32,000 years ago. 1491 2005-10-10T00:00:00Z

Two nights ago, on the beach, we argued all the way past midnight about our favorite Looney Tunes characters from those old cartoons that always play as reruns. We Were Here 2009-10-05T00:00:00Z

Figgins surmised that Folsom had been inhabited fifteen to twenty thousand years ago, which meant that Clovis must be a little before that. 1491 2005-10-10T00:00:00Z

That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. The Kite Runner 2003-05-01T00:00:00Z

Like when Lily broke her foot skiing a few years ago and had to be on crutches afterward. How to Disappear Completely 2020-04-28T00:00:00Z

"My brother rode off just a moment ago, and my guard will be here shortly." A Game of Thrones 1997-08-04T00:00:00Z

We used only the ground floor and first floor; the other two were last used years ago, when Papa was made a chief and took his omelora title. Purple Hibiscus 2003-10-01T00:00:00Z

He moved there a few years ago, after he got married. Outliers 2008-11-18T00:00:00Z

A while ago, the nurse I liked with the lilting accent said she was going home. If I Stay 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z

This extraordinary circumstance—unheard of in the rest of the world—is treated here in America as a basic fact of life, as normal as separate water fountains were just a half century ago. The New Jim Crow 2010-01-05T00:00:00Z

Secretary Seward’s physician had visited just an hour ago. Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever 2012-08-01T00:00:00Z

The teacher was startled but not unbelieving, for she had long ago given up trying to fathom the ways of the colored people in town. Sula 1973-11-01T00:00:00Z

They had passed this way only moments ago, for the snow crystals their warm feet had melted were not yet frozen again. Julie of the Wolves 1972-01-01T00:00:00Z

He did not see how he could possibly explain to Hermione that what she had done to offend Ron was kiss Viktor Krum, not when the offense had occurred so long ago. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 2005-07-16T00:00:00Z

When I think back to the night of the pageant, it seems like it was a lifetime ago. Like Vanessa 2018-03-13T00:00:00Z

Then nineteen years ago, when Mr. Merritt passed away, he left Abuela some money to open a restaurant in his neighborhood. The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora 2017-05-16T00:00:00Z

He was holding his glass and thinking of many years ago. The Old Man and The Sea 1952-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Don’t you remember what the dog told us? Miss Wren came to London a few days ago, when she heard that her sister ymbrynes had been kidnapped.” Hollow City 2014-01-14T00:00:00Z

The man said, “We just keep praying that we will connect with our daughters, who were lost years ago.” Lost Boy, Lost Girl 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z

The letter is dated three weeks ago, and from it they learn that Ashima’s grandmother has had a stroke, that her right side is permanently paralyzed, her mind dim. The Namesake 2003-09-01T00:00:00Z

As it had all those years ago, it put her to sleep almost at once. Little Fires Everywhere 2017-09-12T00:00:00Z

“I was with her two days ago and she was in good spirits.” The House of the Spirits: A Novel 1982-01-01T00:00:00Z

She nodded her royal head and then shook it, as if to say, I told you my name a long time ago, and you're just figuring it out? Bone Gap 2015-03-03T00:00:00Z

‘No. He had not when I departed; but that was nine days ago,’ answered Glorfindel. The Fellowship of the Ring 1954-07-29T00:00:00Z

She looks at Mother, her eyes hopeful, filled with the something that occupied Claire’s just a moment ago. The Adoration of Jenna Fox 2008-04-29T00:00:00Z

“Why, I saw her—I think it was a week ago—walking along Canal Street, the picture of health, it seemed to me.” The Awakening 1899-04-22T00:00:00Z

“But a little while ago, I got upset when someone threatened my mom and...I’m not sure if I consciously meant to do what I did, but it wasn’t good.” Beasts of Prey 2021-09-28T00:00:00Z

Today, given a 35 mm camera and a built-in exposure-meter, anyone can be an expert photographer, but it was not so easy fifty years ago. Boy: Tales of a Childhood 1984-01-01T00:00:00Z

“You were here,” he says, as though the piece of information I gave him fifteen minutes ago is only now sinking in. The Girl on the Train 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z

He is the only one of the three who is still alive, although he retired long ago. Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story 1976-01-01T00:00:00Z

But boarding the train it is impossible not to think of the afternoon, two years ago, they’d met. The Namesake 2003-09-01T00:00:00Z

I had written that nearly two months ago, the night we were taken. Between Shades of Gray 2011-03-22T00:00:00Z

Lourdes berates herself for not dating an American who asked her out long ago. Enrique's Journey 2006-02-21T00:00:00Z

Which reminds me, by the way, of a dream I had a couple of weeks ago. The Secret History 1992-10-16T00:00:00Z

The beginning is that my great-grandfather was a magician, and long, long ago he set into motion a most terrible curse. Louisiana's Way Home 2018-10-02T00:00:00Z

Thirty years ago it was still possible on especially clear days to see the Washington Monument, seventy-five miles away. A Walk in the Woods 1997-11-01T00:00:00Z

There were so many people buried in the Lacks cemetery now, he said, they’d run out of room decades ago and started piling graves on top of each other. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 2010-02-02T00:00:00Z

His tone was normal, calm, as if air raids were benign, as if it were not death that had come so close moments ago. Half of a Yellow Sun 2006-09-12T00:00:00Z

“I got hurt four year ago,” he said. Of Mice and Men 1937-01-01T00:00:00Z

The dome had won first prize at a school fair about fifteen years ago. The Landry News 1999-12-01T00:00:00Z

Things stand as they did when I arrived two weeks ago. Mockingjay 2010-08-24T00:00:00Z

Everybody watched American films and exchanged faded American magazines, but he knew details about American presidents from a hundred years ago. Americanah 2013-05-14T00:00:00Z

It was strange being at the Rock Hall marina, given all that had happened there almost three months ago. Red Kayak 2004-09-23T00:00:00Z

“I should have killed you long ago! “You tried,” I reminded him. The Battle of the Labyrinth 2008-05-06T00:00:00Z

“I believe Reynie is wondering,” said Mr. Benedict, “why the Sender would wait all this time to boost the power if he could have done so years ago. Am I right?” The Mysterious Benedict Society 2008-04-01T00:00:00Z

Once, not long ago, he had ridden on her shoulder, his tail coiled round her arm. A Dance with Dragons 2011-07-12T00:00:00Z

I wonder if I might lay my hands on his head and pray, and keep his soul from leaving his body the way he did for me many months ago. Blood on the River 2006-05-04T00:00:00Z

His expression, which had been so hangdog a moment ago, now glowed with joy. The Strangers 2019-04-02T00:00:00Z

“I didn’t even know I would until about an hour ago.” Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus 2017-09-05T00:00:00Z

Until a few days ago, I'd always assumed they were fairy tales. City of the Plague God 2021-01-12T00:00:00Z

As the afternoon wore on, I began feeling like the miners from years ago, covered in grime. Moon Over Manifest 2010-10-12T00:00:00Z

I was all prepared to pat myself on the back, because I’d mastered Black Tiger long ago, during the first year of the Hunt. Ready Player One: A Novel 2011-08-16T00:00:00Z

“Yes, I do know the name. Wait a minute. Jack Favell. Of course. An awful bounder. I met him once, ages ago.” Rebecca 1938-08-01T00:00:00Z

The lembas had a virtue without which they would long ago have lain down to die. The Return of the King 1955-10-20T00:00:00Z

A note from the Residential Services Manager appeared under my door a couple days ago, saying the groundskeeper would be here throughout the holiday, giving me his contact information. We Are Okay 2017-02-14T00:00:00Z

One of them must have been alive only a few minutes ago. Time Bomb 2018-03-13T00:00:00Z

“I’m quite sure he does,” Colonel Korn replied acidly, “since you brought that identical point to his attention just a moment ago.” Catch-22 1961-11-10T00:00:00Z

Her loafers were standing at attention where she had stepped out of them twelve hours ago. Go Set a Watchman: A Novel 2015-07-14T00:00:00Z

“The isles were last seen just off the coast of Africa, but that was days ago. They could be anywhere in the world by now.” Amari and the Night Brothers 2021-01-19T00:00:00Z

Even though Uncle Tim gave us the station wagon a long time ago and it is so old the fake wood side panels are peeling off, Apa treats it like we bought it yesterday. A Step from Heaven 2001-04-30T00:00:00Z

It was all as Lazlo had seen it that day seven years ago when the good fortune of bad fish had brought him to a new life. Strange the Dreamer 2017-03-28T00:00:00Z

“If you want to catch Mr. de Winter he went straight across the lawn only two minutes ago,” said Frith. Rebecca 1938-08-01T00:00:00Z

“We raised Neah Bay an hour ago. We figure the snow isn’t going to let up until tomorrow afternoon.” Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel 1994-09-12T00:00:00Z

“It’s funny,” Tommy said to me when we were remembering it all again a few years ago. Never Let Me Go 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Well, we know that he tried to do just that, five years ago,” said Dumbledore. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 2005-07-16T00:00:00Z

Jay left for class a few minutes ago. On the Come Up 2019-02-05T00:00:00Z

Trembling with eagerness, Miyax asked Uma to tell her more about Kapugen, and Uma, spilling over with enthusiasm, told how the town and its people had grown poor and hungry several years ago. Julie of the Wolves 1972-01-01T00:00:00Z

“That was a long time ago. Probably now they would wear it.” A Good Kind of Trouble 2019-03-12T00:00:00Z

That had been an hour and a half ago, and she suspected, accurately, that Mr. Wrigley was holding her room for last, to punish her. Little Fires Everywhere 2017-09-12T00:00:00Z

The junkie we had dropped off six weeks ago wasn’t. Shelter (Book One): A Mickey Bolitar Novel 2011-09-15T00:00:00Z

“Dale and I got up a few hours ago. He’s out working. I’m just here to keep you company on your first morning.” Fablehaven 2006-07-30T00:00:00Z

“F.D.R. was not the last president. That was about seventy years ago.” The Titan's Curse 2007-05-11T00:00:00Z

—Well, a couple of days ago some basketball scouts were here from Ohio State and Michigan State—friends of mine from college—and they were looking for you. Tears of a Tiger 1994-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Just a year ago we were groaning over the dismal Christmas we expected to have. Do you remember?” asked Jo, breaking a short pause which had followed a long conversation about many things. Little Women 1868-01-01T00:00:00Z

Art was born around 25,000 years ago, when the subhuman Neanderthal evolved into our human ancestor, Cro-Magnon man. The Annotated Mona Lisa 1992-06-01T00:00:00Z

“They asked me a month ago, but it’s my decision.” Far from the Tree 2017-10-03T00:00:00Z

If it hadn’t been for me, Scott Kincaid would have assigned you to the Buenos Aires office ages ago. Franny and Zooey 1961-09-14T00:00:00Z

Something that even Pong had failed to observe those four years ago, when the Governor had been only inches away. A Wish in the Dark 2020-03-24T00:00:00Z

I stopped being hungry a long time ago, but not eating makes it hard to think. The Young Man and the Sea 2004-02-01T00:00:00Z

Given the near impossibility of surpassing the glaciers without the corridor, some archaeologists suggested that the first Americans must have arrived twenty thousand years ago, when the ice pack was smaller. 1491 2005-10-10T00:00:00Z

Thirty thousand years ago, a Chinese forager might leave camp with her companions at, say, eight in the morning. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

They probably got balloons and welcome-home banners and toys and ice cream—just like Finn said—hours ago. The Strangers 2019-04-02T00:00:00Z

“I don’t watch much television. You know I don’t have a computer. In a lot of ways my life is just as it was twenty or even forty years ago.” Orphan Train 2013-04-02T00:00:00Z

The Earth condensed out of interstellar gas and dust some 4.6 billion years ago. Cosmos 1980-01-01T00:00:00Z

Years ago he had made her a box to hold her favorite books on all their journeys, short and long, near and far. Inkheart 2003-09-23T00:00:00Z

She’d left his house an hour ago but now she was running back, against the wind. The Honest Truth 2014-10-07T00:00:00Z

Only twenty-five years ago, Joe’s father, Esequiel, had had a permit to graze one hundred sheep and sixty cows in the National Forest. The Milagro Beanfield War 1974-01-01T00:00:00Z

She tried it a couple of summers ago, but after a week of easy jogs with me, she asked, “When do you stop counting your steps?” The Running Dream 2011-01-11T00:00:00Z

Her mother had given it to her years ago in expectation of her wedding night, saying, “I hope you fill this out someday.” Middlesex: A Novel 2002-06-05T00:00:00Z

It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy. The Lightning Thief 2005-07-01T00:00:00Z

It was some time ago, my bus ride through the night, when the sun came up to that dreadful sight. X: A Novel 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z

"That picture stopped belonging to you a long time ago," she told him. One Hundred Years of Solitude 1967-05-30T00:00:00Z

I consulted Pim, and a week ago we set to work writing a verse for each person. The Diary of a Young Girl 1997-02-03T00:00:00Z

“Leroy, she got to be crazy,” I said when she called me up three days ago and asked if I’d come interview, “cause everbody in town think I stole Miss Walters’ silver. The Help 2009-02-10T00:00:00Z

It’s weird how six days ago I met Arthur at a post office and the universe reached out with both arms to pull us together. What If It's Us 2018-10-09T00:00:00Z

She told us that this sour woman's one daughter disappeared years ago, and never calls or writes. You Bring the Distant Near 2017-09-12T00:00:00Z

Today the water looked perfect, the way it was a million years ago, before people started using the ocean as a latrine. Flush 2005-09-13T00:00:00Z

Very seldom did any Archipelagan ship touch at the Hands: songs made a hundred years ago were news to those villagers, and they craved to hear of heroes. A Wizard of Earthsea 1968-11-01T00:00:00Z

I walk head down, scanning the sidewalk, the gutters, for silver cigarette papers, although I no longer collect them as I did long ago. Cat's Eye 1988-09-01T00:00:00Z

What telltale clues might remain of any war that took place tens of thousands of years ago? Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

“But a few weeks ago I heard Nazario tell you he didn’t take your money when you offered it to him.” Bodega Dreams 2000-03-14T00:00:00Z

“But it was because of his efforts to ensure this community had a library that this branch was built fifteen years ago. It was named in his honor.” Finding Langston 2018-08-14T00:00:00Z

Nokomis snored and often talked in her sleep, calling out to people from long ago. The Birchbark House 1999-07-21T00:00:00Z

She didn’t say it the way Mother did, a month ago. The Help 2009-02-10T00:00:00Z

“It looks like this came in during the week after the assassination. A month ago. The embassy put it in our hands when they evacuated.” Endangered 2012-10-01T00:00:00Z

“You and your friends stole it long ago!” Inkheart 2003-09-23T00:00:00Z

“I shoulda killed you years ago,” Jordan said with quiet ferocity. Forged by Fire 1997-01-01T00:00:00Z

“My grandfather died four months ago,” Kit explained. The Witch of Blackbird Pond 1958-12-01T00:00:00Z

I had long ago hardened myself to criticism. Black Boy 1945-01-01T00:00:00Z

Countless entire runs of TV shows from forever ago. The Martian 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

Years ago, when Mom and Dad first met, my mother was friends with Gabriel Wire and Lex Ryder, the two guys who made up HorsePower. Shelter (Book One): A Mickey Bolitar Novel 2011-09-15T00:00:00Z

She stares at me with that same scared look Papa wore only a couple of hours ago. In the Time of the Butterflies 1994-01-01T00:00:00Z

And there, at the base of the impregnable anchor, where smooth mesarthium met the stones it had crushed two hundred years ago underneath its awful weight, was the solution to Weep’s problem. Strange the Dreamer 2017-03-28T00:00:00Z

Two years ago, when the coughing sickness was raging through the city again, her father had died. The City of Ember 2003-05-01T00:00:00Z

Three years ago, Blackjack had been enslaved on the Princess Andromeda until he'd escaped with a little help from my friends and me. The Last Olympian 2009-05-05T00:00:00Z

Dumbledore paused for a moment, marshaling his thoughts, and then said, “Four years ago, I received what I considered certain proof that Voldemort had split his soul.” Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 2005-07-16T00:00:00Z

In November he decides to learn the art of lithography, Theo’s suggestion long ago, so that he can become an illustrator. Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers 2017-04-18T00:00:00Z

I remember a remark Farmer made to me a year ago in these hills: “You should compare suffering. Which suffering is worse. It’s called triage.” Mountains Beyond Mountains 2013-04-13T00:00:00Z

Did they see me riding past them just a few minutes ago? The Sky at Our Feet 2018-03-06T00:00:00Z

They had long ago turned brown, and above them, the sky was incredibly blue. Harbor Me 2018-08-28T00:00:00Z

My wickedness five years ago, or six, or twelve, has no existence except as now, mumbling, mumbling, sacrificing the slain world to the omnipotence of words, I strain my memory to regain it. Grendel 1971-01-01T00:00:00Z

He had lived in a tent years ago when he started his boat and until galley and cabin were complete enough to move into. Cannery Row 1945-01-01T00:00:00Z

“I was just here a few days ago. I locked the door, Mattie. I’m sure.” Fever 1793 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z

“A couple weeks ago, that guy out there suddenly starts coming in every day to get a butter-on-white and a banana, and he always pays with these two- dollar bills.” When You Reach Me 2009-07-14T00:00:00Z

Jinny looked at her, remembering what stay had felt like in her own mouth, not so long ago. Orphan Island 2017-05-30T00:00:00Z

Sometimes, preoccupied with her work, she sang the refrain very low, very lingeringly; “A long time ago” came out like the saddest cadence of a funeral hymn. Jane Eyre 1847-10-16T00:00:00Z

“I used to have a diary, but I filled it up a long time ago. It had a lock,” I told Georgie. The Old Willis Place 2004-09-20T00:00:00Z

"What do you think? Of course I can. January twelfth, three years ago. Hard to forget a day that totally scrambles your life, don't you think?" Things Not Seen 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z

It was in the Reilly kook’s yard just an hour ago. A Confederacy of Dunces 1980-01-01T00:00:00Z

Aurelia told me a while ago that Salisbury is a place, and let me tell you, the first chance I get, I'm going there. Sunny 2018-04-10T00:00:00Z

I don’t even want to talk about Egyptians who died thousands of years ago. Merci Suárez Changes Gears 2018-09-11T00:00:00Z

Mark shrugged and took a seat on the floor—the same spot where he’d fallen asleep at some point a million years ago, it seemed. The Kill Order (Maze Runner, Book Four; Origin) 2012-08-14T00:00:00Z