Your current read: first line

[Wayne]

"The senior partner studied the résumé for the hundredth time and again found nothing he disliked about Mitchel Y. McDeere, at least not on paper.

Aha, John Grisham dropping the first hint in The Firm that maybe the infatuation won't last.

[Wayne]

"The possessive instinct never stands still."

In Chancery - the second installment of the Forsyte Chronicles

[Carolien]

"In the passionate dark of dawn, on the path between death and life, within view of the watchful start and within earshot of the beautiful, obscure anthems, a voice told of the trials and joys promised to our alley"

The Harafish by Naguib Mahfouz.

[Wayne]

"Irene was always the first to arrive." - Death in High Heels. (I don't know, maybe Irene is the murderer. Definitely not the first victim, if indeed, there are more.

[Gordon]

"TO THE RED COUNTRY and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth."

Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath

[Wayne]

Gordon wrote: ""TO THE RED COUNTRY and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth."

Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath"

Hope you enjoy this one. I did.

[Gordon]

Wayne wrote: "Gordon wrote: ""TO THE RED COUNTRY and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth."

Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath"

Hope you enjoy this o..."

Thanks Wayne

[Wayne]

"I wish to state quite definitely that it is by no means out of any wish to bring my own personality into the foreground that I preface with a few words about myself and my own affairs this report on the life of the departed Adrian Leverkühn."

Thus begins Serenus Zeitblom his narration of Doctor Faustus. Only fair Herr Zeitblom. We cannot have the dish without due regard to the chef.

[Wayne]

"Something was wrong."

Action from the beginning then in The Bat

[Wayne]

"In Styria, we, though by no means magnificent people, inhabit a castle, or schloss."

Modesty? Well, we'll find out in Carmilla

[Carolien]

Wayne wrote: ""In Styria, we, though by no means magnificent people, inhabit a castle, or schloss."

Modesty? Well, we'll find out in Carmilla"

Enjoy, I read it at the beginning of the month and enjoyed it.

[Wayne]

Carolien wrote: "Wayne wrote: ""In Styria, we, though by no means magnificent people, inhabit a castle, or schloss."

Modesty? Well, we'll find out in Carmilla"

Enjoy, I read it at the beginning of ..."

Few days left and had another great month, worst of the lot Death in High Heels.

[Wayne]

Master was a little crazy; he had spend too many years reading books overseas. talked to himself in his office, did not always return greetings, and had too much hair.

Actually Master sounds quite normal to me, but we don't know yet how his craziness will manifest itself in Half of a Yellow Sun

[Carolien]

Wayne wrote: "Master was a little crazy; he had spend too many years reading books overseas. talked to himself in his office, did not always return greetings, and had too much hair.

Actually Master sounds quit..."

Absolutely normal. Looking forward to your thoughts on this one.

[Carolien]

"I like to read in the carriage".

Starting the Romanian novel Life Begins on Friday

[Wayne]

Carolien wrote: ""I like to read in the carriage".

Starting the Romanian novel Life Begins on Friday"

Hope you enjoy. Think this one will go onto the TBR list after January, from whence it will be summoned by the Random Selector.

[Wayne]

"Selden paused in surprise." First line of The House of Mirth

Oooh, most probably a pleasant surprise seeing that we're in for some mirth.

[Carolien]

Wayne wrote: ""Seldon paused in surprise." First line of The House of Mirth

Oooh, most probably a pleasant surprise seeing that we're in for some mirth."

I still want to read this one, I have enjoyed every Wharton I have read to date.

[Wayne]

Carolien wrote: "Wayne wrote: ""Seldon paused in surprise." First line of The House of Mirth

Oooh, most probably a pleasant surprise seeing that we're in for some mirth."

I still want to read this on..."

That is good news. This is my first time reading one of her works.

[Carolien]

I loved The Age of Innocence and I read Old New York: Four Novellas last year which was very good. you should be able to find her short story Xingu on the Internet which is fun!

[Wayne]

Thanks for the recommendation. Have added Xingu to the TBR

[Wayne]

"In the Lenin Barracks in Barcelona, the day before I joined the militia, I saw an Italian militiaman standing in front of the officer's table." - Homage To Catalonia

I am looking forward to Orwell's account of his experiences during the Spanish Civil War, an episode period of European history, which never featured highly on the curriculum during my school years, in fact one can say, it was deliberately ignored.

[Wayne]

"On this particular morning at the beginning of December, in the year 1138, Brother Cadfael came to chapter in tranquility of mind, prepared to be tolerant even towards the dull, pedestrian reading of Brother Francis, and long-winded haverings of Brother Benedict the sacristan."

Thus starts Monk's Hood, proving that boring religious services have been with us for a long time.

[Carolien]

"Cost candour what it may, I will not deceive my readers by some whim of the publishers and despite my own protests, the ensuing narrative is to be offered to the public in the guise of a work of fiction."

I love, love the Hilary Tamar books by Sarah Caudwell. This from the second of the series, The Shortest Way to Hades.

[Wayne]

Carolien wrote: ""Cost candour what it may, I will not deceive my readers by some whim of the publishers and despite my own protests, the ensuing narrative is to be offered to the public in the guise of a work of f..."

I have Thus Was Adonis Murdered on the shelf, but am participating in a number of challenges to which I give preference. When I have a gap, I randomly select a book from among the books on the TBR shelf, so don't know when I will get to it. Enjoy

[Wayne]

"He awoke, opened his eyes."- The Sheltering Sky

Paul BowlesPaul Bowles is one of the literary figures mentioned by Paul Theroux in The Pillars of Hercules: A Grand Tour of the Mediterranean. Of the others mentioned, I have already read or have started to read Somerset Maugham and Edith Wharton, and I was not disappointed. Hoping for more of the same.

[Wayne]

"It was nearing midnight and the Prime Minister was sitting alone in his office, reading a long memo that was slipping through his brain without leaving the slightest trace of meaning behind." - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Like some students reading poetry

[Wayne]

"Kino awakened in the near dark." - The Pearl

An opening sentence that is pregnant with possibilities.

[Wayne]

"When, on the slopes of Mount Olives, the Apostles addressed Jesus with the words "Lord, teach us to pray," they were not asking an ordinary question; they were expressing one of the deepest needs of the human heart."

The first line of Go in Peace: A Gift of Enduring Love, the words of Pope John Paul II, arranged by Joseph Durepos

[Wayne]

"Lundestad: - 'And so, fellow parishioners, here's to our freedom!' "

The opening statement in The League of Youth.

I agree with Lundestad, freedom is a very fine thing and worth drinking to.

[Wayne]

"The restorer raised his magnifying visor and switched off the bank of fluorescent lights."

So starts Daniel Silva's The Kill Artist

[Carolien]

Wayne wrote: ""The restorer raised his magnifying visor and switched off the bank of fluorescent lights."

So starts Daniel Silva's The Kill Artist"

I enjoy this series, I must get back to it.

[Wayne]

Carolien wrote: "Wayne wrote: ""The restorer raised his magnifying visor and switched off the bank of fluorescent lights."

So starts Daniel Silva's The Kill Artist"

I enjoy this seri..."

I am liking the fast action

[Wayne]

Bit of catching up

"It was well past midnight, and in Cairo airport's transit lounge it was clear most passengers had already entered the trance-like state of passivity that accompanies long-distance travel." - I Didn't Do It for You: How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation

Here the time of travel was caused not by distance but by available flights to Eritrea, the subject of this excellent book on its20th century history, mostly a struggle for recognition and independence.

[Wayne]

"From the window all that could be seen was a receding area of grey." - Hotel Du Lac

A misty morning in Switzerland, the source of many pretty postcards.

[Wayne]

"The two men appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart, in the narrow moonlit lane"

The start of the last instalment of Harry Potter, This one is called Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

[Wayne]

"First of all, let me get something straight: This is a JOURNAL, not a diary." - Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Interesting title then.

[Wayne]

"This year the Day of Atonement - Yom Kippur - coincided with the Sabbath, so that the ninth day of the month in the Hebrew calendar fell on a Friday and Yom Kippur on a Saturday." - Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry

Well, I suppose most practicing Jews went hungry that Saturday, it being Yom Kippur.

[Wayne]

" 'Do you think we can still make it?' I was asked by President Clinton when, on Saturday, 20 December 2000, I was leaving the Cabinet Room adjacent to the Oval Office in the White House where the President had just finished communicating to the Israeli and Palestinian delegations to the peace talks his final parameters for a settlement." - Scars Of War, Wounds Of Peace: The Israeli Arab Tragedy

Well, they are still at it.

[Wayne]

"The river lay heavily upon the desert, bright as a spill of molten metal from a furnace."

With this fitting simile, Wilbur Smith kicks off River God

[Wayne]

" A tall, slim girl, "half-past sixteen," with serious gray eyes and hair which her friends call auburn, had sat down on the broad red sandstone doorstep of a Port Edward Island farmhouse one ripe afternoon in August, firmly resolved to construe so many lines of Virgil.

The start of L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Avonlea. Anne has certainly come a long way since we met her the first time.

[Wayne]

"Augie Odenkirk had a 1997 Datsun that still ran well in spite of high mileage, but gas was expensive, especially for a man with no job, and City Centre was on the far side of town, so he decided to take the last bus of the night." - Steven King's Mr. Mercedes

So Augie is not the guy mentioned in the title?

[Wayne]

"It was a cold winter's evening in the Klein Karoo." - Sally Andrew's Death on the Limpopo

Ooh, Tannie Maria must have cooked soup or a stew.

[Wayne]

"The third gong, announcing that the opera was about to continue, sounded discreetly through the lobbies and bars of Teatro La Fenice." - Death at La Fenice: A Novel of Suspense

So the proverbial fat lady has not sang yet, but she may croak soon.

[Carolien]

Wayne wrote: ""The third gong, announcing that the opera was about to continue, sounded discreetly through the lobbies and bars of Teatro La Fenice." - Death at La Fenice: A Novel of Suspense

So..."

I think it is the fat man...

[Carolien]

"Fortunately, the Hon Phryne Fisher was a light sleeper." Murder on the Ballarat Train by Kerry Greenwood.

Third in this series set in Melbourne in the 1920s.

[Carolien]

" A man walks down the street. The asphalt reels by him.
It is all silence.
The silence is music.
He is the singer.
The people passing smile and shake their heads"

The Bone People starts in free verse.

[Wayne]

I read this in 1995, Could be due for a reread.

[Carolien]

Wayne wrote: "I read this in 1995, Could be due for a reread."

Slowly getting into it. If I hadn't read Possession last year, this would be very intimidating.

[Wayne]

"These are the stories that old men and old women tell to boys and girls seated with open mouths around the spark-wreathed fires in the centre of the villages in the dark forests and on the aloe-scented plains of Africa.

Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa introducing Indaba, My Children: African Tribal History, Legends, Customs and Religious Beliefs.