Bridging First And Last Lines

[Kristel]

Hello all! I'm tasked with presenting the (slightly late) biweekly meme for the first half of May. Thank you for enduring me. Our newest theme is: Bridging First And Last Lines

The first and the last sentences of a novel have power. The opening line invites you into a new reality, an incantation that puts you squarely in the novel's world. The closing line, on the other hand, has the capacity to haunt you days after you thought you've left that novel behind.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is this:

1. Get the first and last sentence of one novel. Arrange them with the first sentence first, last sentence next.
2. Write new lines that you can insert between the sentences in order to create something new.
3. You can only insert 1-3 new sentences or lines.
4. The resulting product can be either a verse or flash fiction. It doesn't have to be related to the source novel.

To give you an example I am going to choose the book Fahrenheit 45 by Ray Bradbury

(view spoiler)[First sentence: It was a pleasure to burn.
Last sentence: When we reach the city.

It was a pleasure to burn
Our breaths took in the same night
And it felt like coming home
We were bone-tired travelers crying in relief
When we reach the city

-
(hide spoiler)]

Submit as many entries as you want. The winner will get a sticker for their TFG passport plus a special prize.

Let me know if you have questions!

[Angus]

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins.
(view spoiler)[The object of my desire, my passion, my downfall.
A hundred hotel rooms, countless one-ways and detours,
A memory revered, a life long removed. (hide spoiler)]
And this is the only immortality you and I may share, my Lolita.

-The temerity! Forgive me, Nabokov. And this seems more like a summary in free verse. Will try some more later.

[Kristel]

Angus: Ganyan ang writer na may ambisyon, taking on Nabokov! ;D Ahlavet.

[Maria Ella]

The Summer Without Men by Siri Hustvedt

First: Sometime after he said the word Pause, I went mad and landed in the hospital.
(view spoiler)[He said pause, not exactly ending our relationship, but giving him an inch of freedom to do his sexcapades. So I shouted, "Where is he - the man I married?!" and punched him, a black spot suddenly formed on his right eye. (hide spoiler)]
Last: "You get it," I said. "Let him come to me."

Filler story in spoiler tag. And I want to create a meme from yesterday's fight ahahahahaha

[Meliza]

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month.
(view spoiler)[People could get used to this weather
But I wish it'll be cooler (hide spoiler)]
Tomorrow.

LOL

[Ingrid]

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of
unrequited love.
(view spoiler)[But he was not to be thwarted, even if it meant forever, he said in a barely audible voice, but she had heard.
"Forever?" she asked. (hide spoiler)]
"Forever", he said.

(view spoiler)[#Forevermore
I haven't read this book yet, but I fear the lines are closely related to the story huhu. I tried. (hide spoiler)]

[Monique]

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

These are the first and last sentences of my most recent favorite read, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel:

FIRST LINE: The king stood in a pool of blue light, unmoored.

LAST LINE: He likes the thought of ships moving over the water, toward another world just out of sight.

Bridging the first and last lines:
(view spoiler)[
The king stood in a pool of blue light, unmoored. “Leave me,” he ordered his attendants and guards who stood nearby, prepared to spring into action, hanging on to his words. When the last guard had gone, he walked slowly across the hall to the gaping palace windows and looked out to the sea, thinking of the crusade that sailed that very morning on his orders in search of uncharted territories. His wife the queen had opposed it; she pointed out the loss of the last fleet and how the kingdom has yet to recover from it, but he turned a deaf ear. He likes the thought of ships moving over the water, toward another world just out of sight. (hide spoiler)]

It must be mentioned that the "king" in the first line and the "he" in the last are completely different persons in the book. :)

[Tina]

Feed by Mira Grant

Our story opens where countless stories have ended in the last twenty-six years: with an idiot - in this case, my brother Shaun - deciding it would be a good idea to go out and poke a zombie with a stick to see what happens.
(view spoiler)[
My brother was good at this, but sometimes I think he lacked the necessary focus needed to finish the business. As expected, this particular idiocy got us killed, and I started yelling at him when we stepped out of the room where we had our new virtual reality video game set up for a break. The idiot wasn't even the least bit remorseful as he got sodas and chips from the pantry, but he did hand me a chocolate bar as some sort of peace offering before we went upstairs again.
(hide spoiler)]
We stepped inside.

Medyo bitin yung last line ng book when it's taken out of context. :))

[Maria Ella]

Ang patok ng ke Meliza ahahahahah nakakaloka~~~

[Meliza]

Maria Ella wrote: "Ang patok ng ke Meliza ahahahahah nakakaloka~~~"

Hahaha! Wag mo nga ako i-troll.

[Kristel]

Thanks to everyone who've submitted so far. I just wanted to remind you that you can submit more than once, and that this meme will end of Friday the 15th.

I'm halfway finished with one of the prizes, though kailangan ko pang bumili ng stuffing. Don't miss out on this oppportunity to own the only crafty thing I'll ever make in my life!

[Tin]

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
(view spoiler)[
First Sentence: The end of the world started when a Pegasus landed on the hood of my car.
Last Sentence: For once, I didn't look back.

The end of the world started when a Pegasus landed on the hood of my car.
And to think I wanted to throw myself under an oncoming train that very morning.
I was angling for purgatory really, so imagine my surprise in seeing one of God's own atop a winged steed beckoning for me.
But I walked in the opposite direction towards the guy with the pitchfork swallowing the city whole.
For once, I didn't look back. (hide spoiler)]

[Marie]

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains.

(view spoiler)[
The heavy rains came in, and then the swollen river swept our house (along with mother and father) in one terrifying go. My sister and I were spared, although she had to be rushed to the hospital for internal bleeding.

"She's stable now", said the nurse kindly, and upon seeing my dazed face, continued, "you ought to go back to the evacuation center", pointing to a posh hotel across the street, "so you can change into dry clothes, get a warm meal, and rest for a while".
(hide spoiler)]

After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain.


Grabe, ang gloomy ko naman. :-P

[Meliza]

Angelfall by Susan Ee

Ironically, since the attacks, the sunsets have been glorious.
(view spoiler)[I always look outside our window everyday, waiting for another day to be over. From the start, I knew that your allegiance to their cause would require you to leave me alone for a while. But I am proud of you as I read your letters, with promises that pretty soon, you're going back. (hide spoiler)]
And for now, that is enough.

[Kristel]

Hellew! Yesterday I awarded the prize for this meme to Marie, for here bridge of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. Congrats!

But I didn't keep track of the people who participated. I still owe you stamps! Please give me your passports the next time we meet.

[Marie]

Yay, I won! Thank you so much for the book, Kristel! :-D