Authors, Writers, Publishers, and Book Readers

Vote on opening lines of novels - read on or put back on the shelf?

There's much discussion on the importance of that first line. Does your favorite novel(s) opening lines live up to the premise that it must grab the reader then or lose them forever? I thought it would be interesting to experiment. I'll share the first few lines of a novel. See whether it would make you want to continue reading.

Please rate it "read on" or "put back on the shelf", based solely upon those opening lines. :)

Book: Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier.

Lightning has struck me all my life. Just once it was real. I shouldn't remember it, for I was little more than a baby. But I do remember. I was in a field, where there were horses and riders performing tricks. Then a storm blew in, and a woman--not Mam--picked me up and brought me under a tree. As she held me tight I looked up and saw the pattern of black leaves against a white sky.

Definitely gets a "read on" vote from me! :) What about you?

P.S. It would be nice if everyone could join in with opening lines from a book they have too. Just be clear when you vote which book you're referring to please. :)

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Permalink Reply by Dairenna VonRavenstone on May 16, 2010 at 12:14am

I'd read on because of idle curiousity, I don't pick a book because it won awards or is a best seller. If it started to get boring, I'd stop.

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Permalink Reply by Kay Elizabeth on June 14, 2010 at 4:20am

I've got one. :)

Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy: Curiouser and Curiouser (Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series) by William Irwin with Richard Brian Davis.

Introduction: You’re Late for a Very Important Date

“You take the blue pill,” Morpheus says to Neo in The Matrix, “and the story ends . . . . You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit-h*** goes.” It’s a tempting offer, isn’t it? For at one time or another in our lives, we’ve all wanted to escape — from a dull and tedious job, an impossible relationship, from a world in which we often have so little control over what happens to us. Perhaps it’s for reasons such as these that our culture has become positively obsessed with the idea of transcending the confines of this world for the cool fresh air of another. Whether it’s by a red pill, a secret wardrobe, a looking glass, or a rabbit-h***, it doesn’t really matter. We’ll take it.

Read on or not? I'd read on because I can relate to that passage.

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Permalink Reply by Cricket on June 14, 2010 at 6:23pm

I'm reading on! I can relate.

Kay Elizabeth said:

I've got one. :)

Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy: Curiouser and Curiouser (Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series) by William Irwin with Richard Brian Davis.

Introduction: You’re Late for a Very Important Date

“You take the blue pill,” Morpheus says to Neo in The Matrix, “and the story ends . . . . You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit-h*** goes.” It’s a tempting offer, isn’t it? For at one time or another in our lives, we’ve all wanted to escape — from a dull and tedious job, an impossible relationship, from a world in which we often have so little control over what happens to us. Perhaps it’s for reasons such as these that our culture has become positively obsessed with the idea of transcending the confines of this world for the cool fresh air of another. Whether it’s by a red pill, a secret wardrobe, a looking glass, or a rabbit-h***, it doesn’t really matter. We’ll take it.

Read on or not? I'd read on because I can relate to that passage.