Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
Fun and Games
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A Book's First Sentence
Robin (Saturndoo) wrote: "Tracy wrote: ""The baby is dead"(OMG!!) from The Perfect Nanny"
YIKES!!!!! I have looked at this book several times and keep passing it by. Now with that first sentence I will have to go back and look at this book againLOL..."
Super quick to read and short. Its more of a character study than a mystery/thriller, so you kind of have to adjust your expectations, but I really enjoyed it.
Tracy wrote: "Robin (Saturndoo) wrote: "Tracy wrote: ""The baby is dead"(OMG!!) from The Perfect Nanny"
YIKES!!!!! I have looked at this book several times and keep passing it by. Now with tha..."
Thanks for the heads up :) definitely will be reading it!!! Added it to my TBR.
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"The wind flicks wet hair across her face, and she screws up her eyes against the rain."
- I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh
And my current read:
"You get the call during a rainstorm. It is 1979.
- We Eat Our Own by Kea Wilson
When she was twelve, my sister fell into a grave.Paper Ghosts.
I forgot to post too! I finished this today, and really enjoyed it - my daughter picked it out for me. It was fun!
If you try to kill your wife without a plan, you will fail.As Long as We Both Shall Live by Joann Chaney
"In 1926 I was enrolled as student airline pilot by the Latécoère Company, the predecessors of Aéropostale (now Air France) in the operation of the line between Toulouse, in southwestern France, and Dakar, in French West Africa."--From Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
In this book, I have summed up how to put your space in order in a way that will change your life foreverThe Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondō
I had to read it because I watched the netflix series LOL. Im about halfway through. Its a quick read. Funny to read about her quirks when she was growing up. I think she is just the cutest thing. Don't know if I would really use her method....Not thanking any of my clothes....
Oh how much fun!! I just found this post - now I have to go look up the first lines of my books!!!
Sarah wrote: ""Let's start with the end of the world, why don't we? Get it over with and move on to more interesting things"The Fifth Season"
I JUST finished that book!! I was going to add that first lie here but now I see I dont have to :-)
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- Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult.
As I got off the plane, he was waiting for me, holding up a scrap of cardboard with my name scribbled on it.-- The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan
That first line tells you NOTHING!
I like to save things. Not important things like whales or people or the environment. Silly things.
-- To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
When I was born, the name for what I was did not exist.
Circe by Madeline Miller
Truly to tell lies is not honorable; to speak dishonorably is pardonable. Pardonable Lies
Someone explain that to me before I read the book.
“The Time Traveller (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was expounding a recondite matter to us.”The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
What a fun topic!
Ann wrote: " Truly to tell lies is not honorable; to speak dishonorably is pardonable. Pardonable Lies
Someone explain that to me before I read the book."
Ummm, maybe don't lie about someone but you can talk shit about them as long as you know you speak the truth?? Kind of the rule I use when it comes to my ex LOL.
Tracy- love your definition! My new policy, I guess.
Ann wrote: "Tracy- love your definition! My new policy, I guess."Happy to help Ann, LOL 😂
Nadine wrote: "Sarah wrote: ""Let's start with the end of the world, why don't we? Get it over with and move on to more interesting things"The Fifth Season"
I JUST finished that book!! I was g..."
It is a really good opening too!
"Dusk at the end of winter, and two men crossed the dooryard of a palace scarred by fire" The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden
"A fly got in the house on Monday. It’s Sunday and he’s still around, bouncing from room to room like he’s the family pet. I never had a pet before. They don’t let convicted murderers have pets in the group home."Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson
(I'm halfway through the book now, and while I was really charmed and intrigued by the opening lines, I'm rather disappointed with the book.)
"I unlocked the safe beneath my desk, grabbed my old service automatic, and crept toward my bedroom doorway, stealthy until I was brought to grief by a Lego Duplo that stung the sole of my foot."American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson *
I made the mistake of opening this book just to look at the first page and hahaha that first sentence grabbed me so hard I ended up reading the entire first chapter before I finally set it down to get back to the book I was in the middle of (Allegedly)
* sort of a tangent, but ... does anyone know why my highlights from this book - and, in fact, the book itself - are not showing up in my Amazon "notes and highlights" page?? I borrowed this kindle ebook from the library and downloaded it via Amazon just like I borrow all of my books, why is Amazon acting like it doesn't know about this one?
OOOOH, I have a couple:" I hear the crack of his skull before the spattering of blood reaches me. "
Verity by Colleen Hoover. I LOVED THIS!!!!!! I literally stayed up all night last reading it from beginning to end. Glad I listened to the CoHo hype. It was available on kindle unlimited and I have my membership until March 2 so I jumped on the bandwagon. Its only the second book I've read by her. Not sure how I'll feel about the rest of her stuff but I did like It Ends with Us, and I have Without Merit on my ATY plan for this year.
"Immortality can be yours."
Infected by James Schannep, " Can you survive the Zombie Apocalypse" a clickable adventure. Only on kindle, also available on Unlimited. Lucky me. Fun!
and
"You are You."
My Lady's Choosing: An Interactive Romance Novel. This opening sentence does NOT do this book justice. I had a little bit of a rough time getting into it, but it is HILARIOUS!!! I can't wait to read more adventures!! Was on sale for $2.99 on kindle yesterday. I LOVED THIS!! Haha, I loved a lot of books yesterday... but this was a great parody on the romance genre, especially the sex scenes, LOL.
( Literally binge read all day ( and night) yesterday....finally!)
Last...
" The eldest six of Francis and Viola Turner's thirteen children claimed that the big room of the house on Yarrow Street was haunted for at least one night"
The Turner House by Angela Flournoy. Only about 10 pages in but so far so good.
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- The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor
I'm only a few chapters in and I've already been surprised by the sudden gore. Love the writing so far though!
"Where are you going?" The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland
Laura I think Colleen Hoover might be one of my new guilty pleasures :-)
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- On the Come Up by Angie Thomas... I have a feeling this is a teenager being dramatic and not a literal sentiment haha!
Emily wrote: ""I might have to kill somebody tonight."- On the Come Up by Angie Thomas... I have a feeling this is a teenager being dramatic and not a literal sentiment haha!"
I am listening to this audiobook right now. It's great!
Tracy wrote: ""Where are you going?" The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland
Laura I think Colleen Hoover might be one of my new guilty pleasures :-)"
That was a good book.
Emily wrote: ""I might have to kill somebody tonight."- On the Come Up by Angie Thomas... I have a feeling this is a teenager being dramatic and not a literal sentiment haha!"
That's what I think walking into work most days :D
Tracy wrote: ""Where are you going?" The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland
Man, I read this in book club a few months ago and it coincided with the play coming to town. The ones that got to go see it said it was super. Only one book club person didn't like it because it was too nice and she wanted the grumpy people to have a say.
"Fela, the headless girl, walked towards Emmanuel. Her neck jagged with red savagery. She was silent, but he could feel her waiting for him to do something, anything.Then his phone rang, and he woke up."
from The Finkelstein 5
Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
More than the first line, but it really set the scene of the story for me. I'm not usually one to go for short stories, but this collection turned out to be completely worth it!
Jasmine wrote: ""Fela, the headless girl, walked towards Emmanuel. Her neck jagged with red savagery. She was silent, but he could feel her waiting for him to do something, anything.Then his phone rang, and he w..."
Creepy!
"It was night again. The Waystone Inn lay in silence and it was a silence of three parts."The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
"1950 A street in lamplight. Beyond a wall of ripped-up city, the Nazis were shooting."
The Last Days of New Paris by China Miéville
This is turning out to be far too weird for me, but if you're into surrealism, or really REALLY like alternate histories, then maybe check it out.
Sarah wrote: ""It was night again. The Waystone Inn lay in silence and it was a silence of three parts."The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss"
One of my favourite book ever!
—
Bon Agornin writhed on his deathbed, his wings beating as if he would fly to his new life in his old body.
Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton
If I didn’t know the book was about dragons, I would have been highly intrigued!
Kensington Palace, September 1835"A shaft of dawn light fell on the crack in the corner of the ceiling."
Victoria
I forgot to post a couple of these, but here is the latest one:"Don't nobody believe nothing these days which is why I haven't told nobody the story I'm about to tell you."
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
“It is important, when killing a nun, to bring an army of sufficient size.”Red Sister by Mark Lawrence
Red Sister is brilliant. Grey Sister was released last year and Holy Sister is being released soon. I do have Grey Sister at home (a signed hardback I won in a competition in another book club on here that Mark is the admin of) but I’m not reading it until Holy Sister is out. There’s also a short book/novella between Grey and Holy Sister.
Yes, I saw that the third is out soon :) will be a while before I get to Red sister, though, so it may have been released. Starting a series not knowing it's not finished yet is the worst. So glad this will be.
Mark actually finishes the whole trilogy before the publishers get it so there’s no chance of it not being completed. It’s them who make us wait a year between books not him lol
That's ok as long you know they will be completed within a reasonable timeframe...
"Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress."Middlemarch by George Eliot
If a book has a prelude, is the book's first sentence the first sentence of the prelude or of Chapter 1? I chose Chapter 1, because the other one was really boring.
"The island of Manhattan's got holes in it, and that's where Baba sleeps." The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar
" 'Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents,' grumbled Jo, lying on the rug"Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
I probably read this a dozen times when I was younger and it's about time for a re-read
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous (other topics)The Priory of the Orange Tree (other topics)
The Overstory (other topics)
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (other topics)
The Deep (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Rivers Solomon (other topics)Ransom Riggs (other topics)
Louis Sachar (other topics)
Lillian Li (other topics)
Fredrik Backman (other topics)
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The Book of M by Peng Shepherd