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This page contains notes, locations of quotes I've paraphrased and other bits of information. The relevant section of writing is in italics: the explanation follows it.
Part One
"Don Ivan? You and him on a bicycle made for two?"
Finn is quoting from an old Victorian song called "Daisy Bell". It's a cutesy ballad about a man proposing to Daisy of the song's title, and features this nauseating chorus:
Daisy Daisy,
Give me your answer do!
I'm half crazy,
All for the love of you!
It won't be a stylish marriage,
I can't afford a carriage,
But you'll look sweet on the seat
Of a bicycle built for two!
Vaje's eyebrows shot up. "Martin...have you been telling the nice girl porkies?"
A bit of British slang: Cockney rhyming slang, to be exact. Telling porky pies = telling lies. Vaje is asking Aspen if he's been lying to Celia.
Getting on your high horse when you´re naked is very difficult, unless you happen to be Lady Godiva.
Lady Godiva was a woman of legend in Coventry, England. Feeling the local people were overtaxed, she pleaded with her husband to lower the taxes. He agreed to do so only if she would ride naked through the town. She did so, and no taxes were paid that year by the people in that town. More information.
Finally his hand closed on it, and he wrenched it to his ear with a sleep-furred, "Who dares disturb my slumber?"
Riose is quoting the sand tiger from Disney's Aladdin, of course.
Jo patted him on the back. "You're just a firestarter."
"A twisted firestarter," capped Celia, to widespread groans. "I can't believe you didn't stop him, Ri."
Celia's quote comes from a song by "The Prodigy" called Firestarter. It was very popular in the UK during the nineties and remains well-known.
The caller's name flashed once, twice, as 'Don't Stop Me Now' jangled out onto the still forest air.
Blue's mobile phone is playing a song by "Queen". If you haven't heard it, I recommend you do: it's a great bit of eighties fun.
"There's no guarantee of anything in this life," she said in prim tones that were a perfect mimicry of her mother. "Death and taxes, Ri, and our psychotic friends are the worst of both worlds."
Celia is paraphrasing a famous quote by Benjamin Franklin: "Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes."
"The Divine Feminine: Turn yourself into a Sex Goddess in Ten Easy Steps'?"
If you've read The Da Vinci Code, the Divine Feminine will be a familiar concept. Dan Brown rathers labours the point.