Mr. Gurganus juxtaposes this charming fairy tale about Muriel's quest to be Sargent-ized with the humdrum reality of her actual life, as recounted by her great-nephew.

They exist in a world of privileged isolation from the humdrum realities of doing the school run or moving a wheelbarrow to Wales.

They escaped from humdrum reality into fictional drama.

Penrose imagines something more mundane: that gravity (the curving of space-time in relativity theory) might somehow squeeze down all the quantum possibilities into a single humdrum reality.

"Our world" should be recognisable as the world that we live in, a humdrum reality that contrasts with the wonderful world of Narnia.

Stephen King is at his best when he's writing about dark things creeping into humdrum reality.

J. B. PRIESTLEY Foreword These stories were written during the quarter century that saw spaceflight transformed from a fantastic dream to an almost humdrum reality.

More than simply depicting clothes for sale, the best fashion photographs hold out the promise of a life that is more dramatic, more exciting, than the humdrum realities of everyday existence.

Lars (and, by indirection, the reader) is made to choose between two worlds: the thin, suffocating atmosphere of his obsession and the humdrum reality of ordinary life.

Both were more successful than an oyster and clam plate and a goat cheese terrine, the fussy presentations of which were undercut by the humdrum reality of how they tasted.