Here we can post the opening paragraphs of the books we are reading, incase anyone wants to read your book and you can recommend the book.

NO-ONE YOU KNOW - MICHELLE RICHMOND

When I found him at last. I had long ago given up the search. It was late at night, and I was dining alone in a small cafe in Diriomo, Nicaragua. It was a place I had come to cherish during my annual visits to the village, the kind of establishment where one could order a plate of beans and a cup of coffee any time of the day or night.

Nice idea, Fiona. We also have a thread somewhere where we post the first lines of books. I love when a book has a great opening line.

Anyone care to share what their favorite opening lines of a book are?

Here are two of my favorites.


.....Mama died today. Or yesterday, maybe. I don't know.

.....It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way-in short, the period was so far like the present period , that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on it being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of caparison only.

Rebecca



"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.

I've always loved this first line.

Barbara quoted: "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. "

Ooooh yes! Love that one. It establishes just the right tone . . .dreaminess, a hint of something missing, and the importance of the estate. Great choice, Barbara!

Jan O'Cat

Alias Reader wrote: ".It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.."

One of my favorite openings of all time.

Friday i finished two short novels, only one completed, by Mary Wollstonecraft, author better known for the A Vindication of the Rights of Women. The second & unfinished began,

"Abodes of horror have frequently been described, and castles, filled with spectres and chimeras, conjured up by the magic spell of genius to harrow the soul, and absorb the wondering mind. But, formed of such stuff as dreams are made of, what were they to the mansion of despair, in one corner of which Maria sat, endeavouring to recal her scattered thoughts!" {Mispellings in text.)

In the next few paragraphs we learn her husband has institutionalized his wife, taking her baby from her breast in so doing. The story is titled, The Wrongs of Woman, and is rather didactic but still kept me reading in suspense. Wollstonecraft created notes for 3 endings, but only one was very sketched out. ANYway, i thought the beginning was good and was glad to have a place to share it.
Mary / The Wrongs of Women

deborah

Thanks for sharing, Deb. That is good. I've never read Wollstonecraft. I'll have to add her to my list.

Alias, at the risk of sounding two-faced, i can't say that i recommend her novels. While i was caught up in the second story (the one the paragraph is from), overall the novel was poor. There was too much comparing double standards for men & women.

Still, it was a sort of personifying the issues she wrote about in Vindication, making it, i reckon, easier to accept.

deborah

Okey dokey. No sweat. One less on my never ending TBR list. :)

I finished the Plum Pudding Murder last night ---CSI & The Mentalist were re-runs already! So today I get to start A Reliable Wife and the first paragragh was so good I wanted to share it:

"It was bitter cold, the air electric with all that had not happened yet. The world stood stock still, four o'clock dead on. Nothing moved anywhere, not a body, not a bird; for a split second there was omly silence, there was only stillness. Figures stood frozen in the frozen land, men, women, and children."

I so enjoyed the rich use of language from Conroy's South of Broad , I should have posted that. I can see that the use of language, even though very different, will add to my enjoyment of this book.

Anyone else want to share?

Donna in Southern Maryland

That was good, Donna. Thanks for sharing. Considering how often people in a book store will read the opening paragraph when deciding on a book, I'm surprised that more authors don't seize the opportunity to wow the reader.

The two books I am reading now, don't have a wow factor in the opening paragraph, but I already know that both books will get an above average rating from me.

Les Miserables I would rate the opening paragraph a zero. The book, however, is going to get an excellent rating from me.

Here is the first paragraph. Don't fall asleep ! :)

"In the year 1815 Monseigneur Charles-Francois-Bienvenu Myriel was Bishop of Digne. He was then about seventy-five, having held the bishopric since 1806."

To be fair to Victor Hugo, I've underlined numerous lines for their delightful turn of phrase.

The other book I am currently reading is Death at an Early Age. It was written in 1967 by Jonathan Kozol. He won the National Book award for his portrayal of what his first year teaching in Boston was like.

He writes very well, and I'm looking forward to reading his book,
The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America. Unfortunately I know it will show that things are not much better, and in some respects worse, than they were in 1967.

Here is the fist paragraph of Death at an Early Age

"During the academic year 1964-1965, I found myself teaching in a segregated classroom of the Boston Public Schools. With no training in education and no experience as a teacher, I was sent into an overcrowded ghetto school on a substitute basis, given a year-long assignment, though on a day to day salary, to teach a Fourth Grade class with a compensatory program that had been designed for Negro children and that was intended to preserve the racial status quo in Boston by upgrading the segregated schools."

Links to read more about the books I mentioned.

I'm glad you posted, Donna. As i flew to Seattle i began my book & loved the first paragraph. I made a mental note to share with ya'll then forgot. So with your reminder, i'll post. The book is the autobiography of Zora Neale Hurston. Dust Tracks on a Road An Autobiography

"Like the dead-seeming, cold rocks, I have memories within that came out of the material that went to make me. Time and place have had their say."

deborah

Alias & Deborah, I agree. First lines and paraghaghs ARE very important! The first 2 lines of Zora's book are grabbing. I have no idea who this is, but I hope you'll share more of her story as you read.

Alias --- for some reason I always type "Alais" first --- I applaud for not falling asleep as you have stuck with Les Miz! The Kozol book also sounds very interesting. Please share with us after you have read the second book.

Donna in Southern Maryland

Deborah: the autobiography of Zora Neale Hurston. Dust Tracks on a Road An Autobiography
======================================

I recall reading about this in the NY Times.

"She died penniless January 28. 1960 and was buried in an unmarked grave in a segregated cemetery in Florida.

In 1973, writer Alice Walker discovered her grave and put a gravemarker on the site."

http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/his...

Alias, yes, she's the woman. I've read two novels by Hurston--
Their Eyes Were Watching God

and

Jonah's Gourd Vine

I enjoyed both for the vivid writing and unique wordings. An online acquaintance shared info about Hurston's life when sharing notes from a biography about ZNH, Wrapped in Rainbows The Life of Zora Neale Hurston

Her story is fascinating, having worked as an anthropologist for years, as well as writing about her subjects. That she died in poverty amazes.

deborah

Deborah: The book is the autobiography of Zora Neale Hurston. Dust Tracks on a Road An Autobiography
=======================

Deb, on my PBS stations they are currently running a program called Zora's Roots. You should check to see if it is playing on one of your PBS stations.

You can also see it on DVD. Maybe Netflix has it if you local PBS station's aren't running it.

http://www.pbs.org/zorasroots/

Thanks for the tip, Alias. It wasn't on in Seattle but i need to check here. Failing that, as you note--Netflix! ;-)

deborah

The Wet Nurse's Tale

There was snow on the ground when my time came. I'd expected pain but, Reader! How could this be! I bellowed, I know I did.

"It's like shitting a pumpkin, it is," I cried.

"Shut up, if you can, girl," said Dinah, the midwife, "for you're hurting my ears and you'll be fine in the end. I'm feared your baby'll be deef with the noise you're making."

"I'll never be fine in my end again," I panted, which made her laugh herself, but then the pains started back up and so did my shrieks.

When it was all over, I cried for my mother, to think what the poor thing suffered for all of us. And then I did what I'd seen my mother do for my whole childhood, and that was to open my shift for the baby and let it nurse.

I found this new book on the shelves at the Library. The cover drew my eye, and I opened to the first page and read the above. Don't have any idea why, but I was hooked. It's 259 pages, and I read it in 2 days. Set in Victorian times, it tells the story of Susan Rose, who follows in her mother's footsteps as a wet nurse.

Hard to believe, but in Victorian times in England, it was the normal thing for women of a certain station in life to hire a wet nurse; doing it yourself was seen as a low class thing. Sprinkled throughout the story are different stories of why the women required a wet nurse.

I've just finished it, and I think I'll give it 4 stars; lovely, unexpected, humorous in places, an enjoyable book.

Donna in Southern Maryland

Well, Donna, even though November has just begun, you win the most unusual opening paragraph for this month ! :)

In Claire Tomalin's bio of Jane Austen she mentioned that JA's mom not only had a wet nurse but that it was not unusual for a family to keep the child in the home of the wet nurse. This went on long after the child stopped nursing...i'm thinking she said until the child was 3 or 4. That was the first i'd heard of such a thing, and the last time, too.

deborah

madrano wrote: "In Claire Tomalin's bio of Jane Austen she mentioned that JA's mom not only had a wet nurse but that it was not unusual for a family to keep the child in the home of the wet nurse. This went on lon..."

Yes, that's right Deborah. In the mother's story, she had many babies who were 'dropped off' at their very humble home. One story even said they dropped off a baby boy, and went back something 18 months to 2 years later to pick up the boy and dropped off the new baby girl!!!

Donna in Southern Maryland

Interesting. I always thought a wet nurse was someone who lived with the family.

Alias, i did too. It was one of the first things i learned in the book. Tomalin suggested that at least one of the young Austens lived with the wet nurse for 3 or 4 years, iirc. I wrote it down but that notebook is at my home, not here.

deborah