Book Beginnings on Friday #7

I'm still in the middle of a few books right now, but I'll soon be starting Replication by Jill Williamson. I can't wait to start reading it. Here's the first few lines:

Martyr stared at the equation on the whiteboard and set his pencil down. He didn't feel like practicing math today. What did math matter when his expiration date was so near?

Those first sentences really draw me in. Something's definitely fishy.

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Book Beginnings on Friday #6

This week I started reading The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan as part of the Reading to Know Book Club. There's sort of two beginnings in this, an author's note (entitled "The Author's Apology") and then the start of The Pilgrim's Progress. This is the beginning of the author's note.

When at the first I took my Pen in hand
Thus for to write; I did not understand
That I at all should make a little Book
In such a mode; Nay, I had undertook
To make another, which almost done,
Before I was aware I this begun.

This is most definitely Old English, which I love reading. "The Author's Apology" is only a couple of pages long and is pretty funny in places and profound in others. It's a great intro to Christian's journey.

Book Beginnings on Friday #5

How to participate: Share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments. Include the title and the author so we know what you're reading. Then, if you would like, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line, and let us know if you liked or did not like the sentence. The link-up will be at A Few More Pages every Friday and will be open for the entire week.

It's been a while since I've done this!

This week (today, actually) I started reading The Plague by Albert Camus for one of my classes. Don't you just love the cover?

Here are the first few lines:

The unusual events described in this chronicle occurred in 194- at Oran. Everyone agreed that considering their somewhat extraordinary character, they were out of place there. For its ordinariness is what strikes one first about the town of Oran...

I think this is a pretty good beginning. What are these unusual events? Of course, some of the mystery is taken away because I know the book is about the plague, so the unusual events must have something to do with that. So far I'm really enjoying this book.

Book Beginnings | October 7, 2011

Crack open a book you've been reading or are about to read and share the first line! Visit Book Beginnings for all of the info.

I will soon be cozying up with memoir The Night Sky: A Journey from Dachau to Denver and Back by Maria Sutton. I'm so excited to get into this book.

Here's the first line:

When I was thirteen years old, I overheard a conversation that would change my life.

That's a pretty intriguing beginning.

What are you currently reading?

Book Beginnings | August 5, 2011

How to participate: Share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments. Include the title and the author so we know what you're reading. Then, if you would like, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line, and let us know if you liked or did not like the sentence. The link-up will be at A Few More Pages every Friday and will be open for the entire week.

This week I've been reading The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I've been working on it for the past few weeks in between other books, but I'm nearly finished. The first lines come from the introduction, which is a fictional account in first-person view of someone discovering a scarlet letter. Intrigue already, right? I was shocked by how long the introduction is . . . it's about fifteen to twenty percent of the entire book! It goes on and on and on about a custom house before it even reaches the finding of the letter; but I wouldn't dare skip it. For simplicity, I edited out the very long sentence where the character discusses the first time he had an "autobiographical impulse."

It is a little remarkable, that—though disinclined to talk overmuch of myself and my affairs at the fireside, and to my personal friends—an autobiographical impulse should twice in my life have taken possession of me, in addressing the public. The first time was three or four years since. . . . And now—because, beyond my deserts, I was happy enough to find a listener or two on the former occasion—I again seize the public by the button, and talk of my three years' experience in a Custom-House.

Other than the length of the introduction, I'm really enjoying the mysteriousness of this book!

Book Beginnings | July 29, 2011

I just finished The First Gardener by Denise Hildreth Jones. I really enjoyed it. (Click the title to read my review.) Here are the first couple of lines:

The sides a my bologna gone and curled up in that cast-iron skillet when a pop a grease splattered out. Landed smack-dab on the mornin' paper I done set on the counter.

The first chapter is from character Jeremiah Williams's perspective, and every few chapters in the book he has one wholly devoted to him. I love this beginning because it says a lot about Jeremiah. Of course, I didn't really know who he was when I started reading it, but this beginning definitely makes a person wonder. What is this? Who is this about? It's a great book.

Book Beginnings | July 8

Yesterday I found out about this, and I thought it would be fun to join. This meme encourages readers and bloggers to let everyone know the first line (or two) of the books they are currently reading. Visit A Few More Pages for all of the details, or click on the button above.

It was a dull autumn day and Jill Pole was crying behind the gym.

It's simple, yes, but so intriguing. I can picture a dull autumn day, and why is Jill crying? I'm about a third into this book and loving it.