First line of current book....

[Michelle]

Adapted from a thread in another forum ;)

What's the first line of your current book?

"Hannah stretched one slim, tanned leg in the direction of the taps, clasped the hot tap expertly with her dripping foot, and felt hot water flood deliciously into the bath."

Someone Like You - Cathy Kelly

[Freewheeling Andy]

A few summers ago I visited two dairy farms, Huls Farm and Gardar Farm, which despite being located thousands of miles apart were remarkably similar in their strengths and vulnerabilities

- Collapse, Jared Diamond
(Not half as fun as yours, 'Chelle)

[Inanna]

Can I explain why I wanted to jump off the top of a tower-block?


A Long Way Down ~ Nick Hornby

[Sassenach]

Those of us who devote our lives to the care of mother were greatly concerned by her rage after the disaster of 'blue fire' which had consumed so many of her warrior children.

The Younger Gods - David & Leigh Eddings

[Louiseog]

Maya reached out and touched her father's hand as they walked from the underground to the light.
John Twelve Hawks The Traveller

[Icecream]

"At the first gesture of morning, flies began stirring."

Cold Mountian Charles Frazier

[Sarahrob]

There was no chance of taking a walk that day.

Jane Eyre

[Anonymous]

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins.

[Angel]

This is how it feels when you realize your child is missing...

The Tenth Circle - Jodi Picoult

[Janet]

The soldier was laden like a pack mule.

The First Casualty by Ben Elton

[Lilywhite]

I find great irony in my choice of profession

-Geisha of Gion

[Acesare*]

Was there anything quite so under-rated in this shallow, plastic, global-corporate, tall-skinny-latte, kiddy-meal-and-free-toy, united-colors-of-f***-you-too world, than a good, old-fashioned, no-frills, retail blow-job?

The Sacred Art of Stealing - Christopher Brookmyre

[Cerridwen]

There were three things moving through the wood that evening: the boy, the dog and the Sun.

The Greenstone Grail - Amanda Hemingway

[Tiger]

It was the last day of summer.

Shakespeare's Secret by Elise Broach

[Mamacita]

"Mma Romotswe was sitting alone in her favorite cafe', on the edge of the shopping centre on the Gabarone end of the Tlokweng road."

--In The Company of Cheerful Ladies
Alexander McCall Smith

[Janet]

I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.

I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith

[Kell]

The story that follows is one I never intended to commit to paper.

~ The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

[Maureen]

In the aloof, detached house in Holland Park, which, like its equally smart neighbours, rose four storeys high and was fronted by a gravel drive and iron railings, Thomas Lamark brought breakfast up to his mother, as he did every morning, on the absolute dot - the nanosecond - of ten thirty.

DENIAL - PETER JAMES

[1sillywabbit]

I am a Man you can trust, is how my customers view me.

From,
A Patchwork Planet
by Anne Tyler

Wabbit x :wave:

[MonkeyCatcher]

It was her third time with live ammunition ... and her first time on the draw from the holster Roland had rigged for her.

-The Waste Lands (Dark Tower Bk 3) by Stephen King

[SFG75]

In 1902 Father built a house at the erest of the Broadview Avenue hill in New Rochelle, New York.

-Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow.

[Kell]

The day I died started out bad and got worse in a hurry.

~ Undead and Unwed by Mary Janice Davidson

[Janet]

If there's one thing I've learned in the last 15 years, it's this; that murder is really no big deal.

Gentlemen & Players - Joanne Harris

[kitty]

This happened in 1932, when the state penitentiary was still at Cold Mountain.

The green Mile

[Tiger]

I thought that it was going to be the best Christmas ever.

Clean Break by Jaqueline Wilson.

[Maureen]

It'sMonday - so it msut be rice pudding again.

from Jigs and Reels by Joanne Harris

[Icecream]

This happened in 1932, when the state penitentiary was still at Cold Mountain.

The green Mile

Cold Mountain. Is that the same cold Mountain charles Frazier's book is set at? Must be. We are reading books set at the same sort of place then, if the rest of yours is nearby to those mountains..

[Kell]

I was a forty-three-year-old mother of two when I lost my orgasm.

~ How to Kill Your Husband (& Other Handy Household Hints) by Kathy Lette

[Lilywhite]

Have you ever tasted a Whitstable oyster?

Tipping the Velvet ~ Sarah Waters

[MonkeyCatcher]

"Sleep well, dear."

- The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea - Yukio Mishima

[Janet]

Dear Franklin, I'm unsure why one trifling incident this afternoon has moved me to write to you.

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

[Kell]

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins

~ Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

(although, technically, that's not really the 1st line as there's a forewaord which is part of the story too, but this line is the 1st one in the 1st chapter...)

[Lilywhite]

She got to the parking lot earlier than usual.

Out ~ Natsuo Kirino

[1sillywabbit]

:) Don't these first lines make you wonder what comes next!!
:?
Can see my TBR Pile going to get even BIGGER! :mrgreen:


Wabbit x :wave:

[Mamacita]

My name is William Cuyler Thorne and I have been a soldier, a scholar, a wastrel and a womanizer.

~~The Vampire's Seduction by Raven Hart

[Angel]

Ria's mother had always been very fond of film stars.

Tara Road - Maeve Binchy

[Michelle]

To be honest, I'd been so tired for so long, I don't remember, not accurately, when I realised something serious was wrong with me.

My Best Friend's Girl - Dorothy Koomson

[MonkeyCatcher]

The storm had broken.

-Magician by Raymond E. Feist

[1sillywabbit]

I EXIST! I am conceived to the chimes of midnight on the clock :shock:

Behind the scenes at the Museum ~ Kate Atkinson


Wabbit x :wave:

[MonkeyCatcher]

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

[Kell]

Emma Wodehouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in a world with very little to distress or vex her.

~ Emma by Jane Austen

[Acesare*]

"Bin Laden? A f***ing charlatan!"

Be my Enemy - Christopher Brookmyre

[Tome Raider]

"I was fifteen when I first met Sherlock holmes, fifteen years old with my nose in a book as I walked the Sussex Downs, and nearly stepped on him."

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King

Not what I'm reading this very moment, but it is my all time favorite book. I'm reading Emma as well and there's no need to post it twice.

[Freewheeling Andy]

In 18th Century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in that era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages. - Perfume by Patrick Suskind

[Renniemist]

In 1972 I was sixteen – young, my father said, to be travelling with him on his diplomatic missions.

The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova

[Icecream]

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.

[MonkeyCatcher]

She got to the parking lot earlier than usual.

Out - Natsuo Kirino

[kitty]

She had often dreamed of her little sister floating dead beneath the surface of the ice, but tonight, for the first time, she envisioned Hannah clawing to get out.

Plain Truth Jodie Picoult

[Lilywhite]

Twenty past one in the morning on New Year's Day.

Raven Black - Ann Cleeves

[MonkeyCatcher]

It was love at first sight.

- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

[yin/yang]

His face was wet with sweat and with tears, the man runs for freedom, he runs for his life.

The Twelfth Card by Jeffery Deaver

[Maureen]

"The kid always makes it. I told you that"

24 hours - Greg Iles

[Lilywhite]

This is how it feels when you realize your child is missing:

The Tenth Circle ~ Jodi Picoult

[Janet]

The problem was Megan had just taken the second half of her ecstacy when her father called with the news.

The Abortionist's Daughter - Elisabeth Hyde

[MonkeyCatcher]

Two years after my mother died, my father fell in love with a glamorous blonde Ukranian divorcee.

- A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian by Marina Lewycka

[crystall_child]

Willie Chandran asked his father one day, 'Why is my middle name Somerset?'

Half a Life - VS NAIPAUL

[Kell]

“Ta, ta, taa, ta, Taaa ta, ta…? Ah zut! I so nearly have it. That tune has been in my head all night… Is there more coffee?”

~ The Rainbow Bridge by Aubrey Flegg (for Olympic Challenge – Ireland)

[MonkeyCatcher]

After decades of patient mismanagement and loving neglect, The Ford County Times went bankrupt in 1970.

-The Last Juror by John Grisham

[Icecream]

Sounds interesting Kell..

[Lilywhite]

Things started to fall apart at home when my brother, Jaja, did not go to communion and Papa flung his heavy missal across the room and broke the figurines on the etagere.

Purple Hibiscus ~ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

[Renniemist]

It was Wang Lung’s marriage day.

The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck.

[Lilywhite]

I met Charlotte in London one afternoon while waiting for a bus.

The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets ~ Eva Rice

[Sugar]

What sort of book is this?

Endymion Springs - Matthew Skelton

(There I've started reading it now!)

[Louiseog]

Now, just between you and me; a silence, soft as sleep not yet woken, has tiptoed in and holds us.
Marius Brill 'Making Love - A Conspiracy of the Heart'

[Vanessa]

Do you think Bruce Springsteen would fancy me?
Pam Ayres - The Works

[MonkeyCatcher]

I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974.

Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides

[Inver]

'The wedding dress was creamy-white with a suggestion of pink behind it, like the inside of a shell.'

Sleeping Tiger by Rosumunde Pilcher

woops....mega blunder there..... :oops: :oops: :oops:

Gave you a laugh though...on my first day too.!! be getting banned already...lol....off to hide now... :oops: 8-)

[Kell]

Did I read that right, Inver? LOL!

[Sarahrob]

:lol: Fantastic!

[Inver]

Did I read that right, Inver? LOL!

Woops....sorry boss....amended now.... :oops:

[Michelle]

I think I preferred the typo! :lol:

[Inver]

I think I preferred the typo! :lol:

Well the 's' is below the 'w' :oops:

Trying to reach my 25 posts you see and typing to fast....lol :mrgreen:

[Michelle]

You did have until the end of the month... but we do like to see new members getting stuck straight in! :mrgreen:

[Inver]

You did have until the end of the month... but we do like to see new members getting stuck straight in! :mrgreen:

Yeh I know but I go on hols middle of next week....lol :reading: :D :reading:

[Vanessa]

It is supposed that the earliest inhabitants of Britian crossed over from the mainland of Europe in pre-historic times, and were a branch of the little, dark-haired race that inhabited the shores of the mediterranean.

The Story of Morley-George Wood the head teacher of Morley Primary School
(A locally bound journal written around 1930)

[Acesare*]

'The wedding dress was creamy-white with a suggestion of pink behind it, like the inside of a shell.'

Sleeping Tiger by Rosumunde Pilcher

woops....mega blunder there..... :oops: :oops: :oops:

Gave you a laugh though...on my first day too.!! be getting banned already...lol....off to hide now... :oops: 8-)

Sad that I missed this, but it still made me laugh when I worked it out! :lol:

[Inver]

'The wedding dress was creamy-white with a suggestion of pink behind it, like the inside of a shell.'

Sleeping Tiger by Rosumunde Pilcher

woops....mega blunder there..... :oops: :oops: :oops:

Gave you a laugh though...on my first day too.!! be getting banned already...lol....off to hide now... :oops: 8-)

Sad that I missed this, but it still made me laugh when I worked it out! :lol:

You can tell I was a newbie today...lol :D

[Vicki]

"For a few weeks each summer, the sky over Kyralia cleared toa harsh blue and the sun beat down relentlessly."

'The Novie' - Trudi Canavan

[Janet]

After he was arrested, my father became famous.

State of the Union by Douglas Kennedy.

[Angel]

To rise from Virgin to Queen is one thing; to be cast down from Queen to Whore to Witch is quite another.

Unicorn's Blood by Paricia Finney

[Icecream]

Hmmm Angel. That book sounds intriguing, if on the same level here. Could you tell us more about it?

[Angel]

Icecream - this one is intriguing!
Unicorn's Blood - review courtesy of Amazon:-

"Unicorn's Blood lays a web sophisticated enough to keep fans of Le Carre absorbed and stays historically accurate, while inventing characters we can care about. Her heros are never 20th century politically correct, but admirable despite all their 16th century faults and idiosycracies. From the main characters' daring fights and escapes, to the incidental players' acts of conscience, I was holding my breath, cheering, and agonizing for right to prevail.
It is set in Elizabeth's Court and the streets of late 16th Century London and interweaves the real life mystery of how Elizabeth came to execute her cousin, Mary. Finney employs interesting devices such as narration by the "Holy Virgin"/earth goddess. A great read for any fan of espionage, historical mystery, or just great fiction."

I have found a new author that I enjoy!

[Acesare*]

The truth is that I have never been the mastermind of anything.

Empress Orchid - Anchee Min :D

[Kell]

I believe everyone has a superpower.
~ Bad Kitty by Michele Jaffe

[Sugar]

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman in possession of an adequate income must be in want of a life.

Kissing Toads - Jemma Harvey

[MonkeyCatcher]

Does it really take seven years to digest chewing gum?

- Why Do Men Have Nipples? by Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg

(The answer is no btw ;))

[Janet]

Does it really take seven years to digest chewing gum?

- Why Do Men Have Nipples? by Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg

(The answer is no btw ;))
:lol: So, why do men have nipples?

[MonkeyCatcher]

Does it really take seven years to digest chewing gum?

- Why Do Men Have Nipples? by Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg

(The answer is no btw ;))
:lol: So, why do men have nipples?
It's because up until 6 weeks, the unborn baby is modelled on a female prototype - it is only after this period of time that the male hormones kick in, but by that time they already have nipples [/geek] :wink:

[Michelle]

You see.. you're now full of amazing information! :lol:

[Lilywhite]

wow, I'm impressed :)
That could be a new party trick :lol:

[Janet]

It's because up until 6 weeks, the unborn baby is modelled on a female prototype - it is only after this period of time that the male hormones kick in, but by that time they already have nipples [/geek] :wink:
Cool - thanks! :D

[Icecream]

Hmmm strange. So men are not really supposed to have them. Interesting.

[Lilywhite]

The assassins dropped into the palace grounds at midnight, four fleet shadows dark against the wall

Ptolemy's Gate ~ Jonathan Stroud

[Lilywhite]

The words were written in pencil on a piece of paper placed on top of the body

Tainted Blood ~ Arnaldur Indridason

[Icecream]

Sounds creepy..

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, may God take this precious soul, and deliver it unto heaven's domain, amen. - Angels and Christians by MJ White.

[Tiger]

The auroch appeared quite suddenly from the trees on the other side of the stream.

Spirit Walker by Michelle Paver

[Kell]

"The best thing about being a pirate," said the pirate with gout, "is the looting."
~ The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists by Gideon Defoe

(I actually just finished this one, but I had to come back & add it here as it's such a funny book!)

[Acesare*]

SSCs.

A Big Boy Did it and Ran Away - Christopher Brookmyre

[Maureen]

The day Richard's death announcement appeared in the MAnchester Evening Chronicle, I knew I couldn't postpone clearing up the mess any longer.

Blue Genes - Val Mcdermid

[Angel]

Although it was high summer, there was a thick white sea mist shrouding the Firth of Forth on the day when Mary Queen of Scots sailer home from France to take up her throne

Fatal Majesty : A Novel of Mary Queen of Scots by Reay Tannahill

[madcow]

As a little girl, I was terrified of the dark; I'm not keen on closed doors and I really don't like being scared - I could never watch something like 'The Exorcist'.

Most Haunted - The Official Behind-The-Scenes Guide

[Lilywhite]

There were 152 miles between the city and Falls River and from there another 23 miles to Pecking.

Torey Hayden ~ Ghost Girl

[MonkeyCatcher]

It was the sort of thing one hopes momentarily that one has not really seen - because life would be so much more convenient if one hadn't.

- Lord John and the Private Matter by Diana Gabaldon

[Renniemist]

One of the fruits of Emancipation in the West Indian islands is the number of the ruins, either attached to the houses that remain or within a stone’s throw of them: ruined slaves’ quarters, ruined sugar-grinding houses, ruined boiling houses; often ruined mansions that were too expensive to maintain.

A High Wind In Jamaica - Richard Hughes

[Lilywhite]

If there's one thing I've learned in the past fifteen years, it's this; that murder is really no big deal

Gentlemen & Players ~ Joanne Harris

[Kell]

Malibu.

~ Vampire Beach: Bloodlust by Alex Duval.

And since the 1st sentence is only one word, i'll give you the 2nd one too:

Jason Freeman took a deep breath of the fresh California air.

[Kell]

The chariot wreck had been a bad one.

~ Cleopatra's Curse by Katherine Roberts (CBUK)

[kitty]

My name is William Cuyler Thorne. I have been a soldier, a scholar, a wastrel and a womanizer.
The Vampire's Seduction by Raven Hart

[Lilywhite]

Phone rings, my cousin Andrea answers

The Female of the Species ~ Joyce Carol Oates

[O's]

"I had lived in leeds for twelve years. so when I got the booking I jumped at the chance to go back. The call came late one afternoon, I remember because I had just been trying to create a new biscuit."

Flight From Deathrow - Harry Hill

[Kell]

My nightmare started like this.

~ Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters by Rick Riorden

[MonkeyCatcher]

Garp's mother, Jenny Fields, was arrested in Boston in 1942 for wounding a man in a movie theatre

The World According to Garp - John Irving

[madcow]

I was not a happy medium in 1998.

Crossing Over - John Edward

[Janet]

I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

[Lilywhite]

Take care to chop the onion fine

Laura Esquivel ~ Like Water For Chocolate

[O's]

"The road came from the southern hills and crossed the marshes. It was a bad road." - Heretic, by Bernard Cornwell.

[Lilywhite]

That winter had bitten down hard and early, the ground almost ringing as the horses stumbled against frozen clods on the track leading to the forest.

The Innocent ~ Posie Graeme-Evans

[Lilywhite]

I had the dream again last night

Hello Bunny Alice ~ Laura Wilson

[kitty]

When the monster finally came through the door, he was wearing a mask.

Perfect Matchby Jodi Picoult.

[Inver]

'She had often dreamed of her little sister floating dead beneath the surface of the ice, but tonight, for the first time, she envisioned Hannah clawing to get out.'

'Plain Truth' by Jodi Picoult

[Inver]

Been asked to do the narration in a recording of a musical version of Peter Pan at the Festival Hall.

'The Two of Us' My Life with John Thaw.....by Sheila Hancock.

[Renniemist]

“You’ve no choice. Look back.”

The True Story of Hansel and Gretel - Louise Murphy

[Lilywhite]

She lifted the heavy hammer drill and pointed it at his head

Trust Nobody ~ June Hampson

*due to content I have written the second line instead, just to save you all the blushes :)

[Kell]

*due to content I have written the second line instead, just to save you all the blushes :)
Crikey - Now I'm going to have to go & find out what the first line could possibly be!

[Lilywhite]

it could be a new game ;)

[madcow]

Well it's one way to make you read a book!

[madcow]

Deborah Franklin stretched out her arm sleepily, moving luxuriously in the bed, a small smile curling her mouth.

Cruel Legacy - Penny Jordan

[Lilywhite]

In my dream I smelled the dark sulphurous stink of a passing witch and I pulled up the coarse blanket over my head and whispered 'Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us', to shield me from my nightmare of terror.

The Wise Woman ~ Philippa Gregory

[Tiger]

Ingo at night: it's not completely dark.

The Tide Knot- Helen Dunmore

[Renniemist]

Peter Crowthers’ book on the election was already in the shops.

The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst.

[Lilywhite]

Mother died today

The Outsider ~ Albert Camus

[Lilywhite]

I was of a roving frame of mind, even as a child, and for years my fancy had been to set sail on one of my father's ships.

Pirates! ~ Celia Rees

[Lilywhite]

It's a hot summer night in Lisbon and I'm standing by a penalty spot in the Stadium of Light with cramp shooting up and down my calves

Off The Record: My Autobiography ~ Michael Owen

[Ronny]

"A sealed envelope is an enigma containing further enigmas."

The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte

[kitty]

It was so hot in the room, like an oven.

The Graft by Martina Cole

[Renniemist]

There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

[mira]

He did not and all of them did not and any of them would see that a color which was quite attractive could be a color that is very attractive and some of them if they liked it would do it again would see the color again that they had seen and one of them doing very well what he was doing was not killed and he was hurt enough so that he did not walk when he was carried.

G.M.P. from Matisse Picasso and Gertrude Stein With Two Shorter Stories by Gertrude Stein.

[Ronny]

I have a silly question, do you consider the absolute first sentence the first line, or the first sentence of the first chapter the first line? I'll put both here since I'm not sure :?

I still remember the day my father took me to see the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first tme.

A secret's worth depends on the people from whom it must be kept.

-the Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

[Icecream]

I do not think that is a silly question. Some books are questionabe as to what is the first line, for example, have a quote at the beginning, or have one line only on the very first page..

[Lilywhite]

The storm came down like God's hammer

Posie Graeme-Evans ~ The Exiled

[mrstrecool]

"By my sixteenth birthday, I'd murdered two kings, my father, my brother, a queen, a prince and my husband".
Ophelia's Revenge by Rebecca Reisert.

Sounds lovely!!

[Lilywhite]

I know exactly when I died

Shade ~ Neil Jordan

[Acesare*]

On August 23, the day before the hurricane struck, Max and Bonnie Lamb awoke early, made love twice and rode the huttle bus to Disney World.

Stormy Weather - Carl Hiaasen

[Kell]

I was never named and never asked a thing.
~ The Tale of the Miller's Daughter by JoSelle Vanderhooft

[SERAFINApekkala]

In 1972 I was sixteen - young my father said, to be travelling with him on his diplomatic missions.

[Lilywhite]

There were eagles in the sky over London

The Beloved ~ Posie Graeme-Evans

[kitty]

With draft beer and a smile, Ned Pearsall raised a toast to his deceased neighbour, Henry Friddle, whose death greatly pleased him.

Velocity by Dean Koontz

[Kell]

Far, far away, jutting out into the emptiness beyond, like the figurehead of a mighty stone ship, is the Edge.

~ The Curse of the Gloamglozer (The Edge Chronicles - Quint Sequence #1) by Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell

[MonkeyCatcher]

Roland shook his head decisively

The Farseekers by Isobelle Carmody

[Lilywhite]

In eighteenth-century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages

Perfume ~ Patrick Suskind

[eloise]

In the Chalched states, slaves are kept

First sentence of Assassin's Quest Robin Hobb

[Lilywhite]

On 11 November 1997, Veronika decided that the moment to kill herself had - at last - arrived.

Veronika decides to die ~ Paulo Coelho

[Lilywhite]

Dear Joan, I do hope I know you well enough to say this.

The Queen of the Tambourine ~ Jane Gardam

[Tiger]

If you hear my name, Willafred, and don't picture a princess, well, hooray for you.~ The Wedding Planner's Daughter- Coleen Paratore

[Angel]

Mehuru woke at dawn with the air cool on his outstretched body.

A Respectable Trade by Philippa Gregory

[Kell]

Twig sat on the floor between his mother's knees, and curled his toes in the thick fleece of the tilder rug.
~ Beyond the Deepwoods (Edge Chronicles/Twig Sequence #1) by Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell

[mrstrecool]

To be honest, I'd been tired for so long I don't remember, not accurately, when I realised something serious was wrong with me.

My Best Friend's Girl-Dorothy Koomson

[Inver]

'Agnes Borrowdale, seventy-five years old a week on Tuesday, hoisted herself onto the window sill and perched astride it, gripping the wooden frame.'

'The Dangerous Sports Euthanasia Society' - Christine Coleman

[greenchair]

"Years later Amy would remember the day she saw inside the spider house."

Nazareth Hill by Ramsey Campbell

[Lilywhite]

Wind howled through the night, carrying a scent that would change the world.

Eragon ~ Christopher Paolini

nb If you haven't read this one, I recommend it and now is your chance to try it out
Reading Circle (http://bookclubforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1619)

[Kell]

The Tower of Night. It makes prisoners of us all...

~ The Last of the Sky Pirates (The Edge Chronicles / Rook Trilogy # 1) by Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell

[Renniemist]

Beyond the Indian hamlet, upon a forlorn strand, I happened on a trail of recent footprints.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

[pontalba]

"Hot, thought the Parisians. The warm air of spring. It was night, they were at war and there was an air raid."

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirosky

[Galactic Space Hamster]

Great idea for a thread :)

War of the Flowers by Tad Williams: A single flower, a hellebore, stood in a vase of volcanic glass in the middle of the huge desk, glowing almost radioactively white in the pool of a small artful spotlight.

[Sofia]

Terrible voting weather, remarked the presiding officer of polling station fourteen as he snapped shut his soaked umbrella and took off the raincoat that had proved of little use to him during the breathless forty-meter dash from the place where he had parked his car to the door through which, heart pounding, he had just appeared.

Seeing-Jose Saramago

[Louiseog]

Terrible voting weather, remarked the presiding officer of polling station fourteen as he snapped shut his soaked umbrella and took off the raincoat that had proved of little use to him during the breathless forty-meter dash from the place where he had parked his car to the door through which, heart pounding, he had just appeared.

Seeing-Jose Saramago
What a long sentence!

[judy]

Two years after my mother died, my father fell in love with a glamorous blonde Ukrainian divorcee.

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - Marina Lewycka

[Sofia]

Terrible voting weather, remarked the presiding officer of polling station fourteen as he snapped shut his soaked umbrella and took off the raincoat that had proved of little use to him during the breathless forty-meter dash from the place where he had parked his car to the door through which, heart pounding, he had just appeared.

Seeing-Jose Saramago
What a long sentence!
all his books are like that! He's not big on punctuation or quotation marks. :banghead:

[mrstrecool]

This is how it feels when you realize your child is missing: the pit of your stomach freezes fast, while your legs go to jelly.

The Tenth Circle-Jodi Picoult

[Lilywhite]

The pig was young and wary, a yearling boar timidly testing the wind for strange scents as it ventured out into the honey coloured light of a fast-fading day.

Hood ~ Stephen R. Lawhead.

[Lilywhite]

He hated the forest.

Stolen ~ Kelley Armstrong.

[Michelle]

'Oh, I'm the king of the swingers..' sang the man in the monkey suit.

Girl Meets Ape - Chris Manby

[Renniemist]

On a clear, blueblack, starry night, in the city of Berlin, in the year 2003, two young people sat down to dinner.

The Rotters’ Club by Jonathan Coe

[Liz]

If there's one thing I've learned in the past fifteen years, it's this; that murder is really no big deal.

GENTLEMEN & PLAYERS by Joanne Harris

[muggle not]

It was a dark and stormy night - Snoopy :oops:

[pontalba]

"At teachers college we had a professor who was insane about Poust and his madeleine. Malevil by Robert Merle

[dididave]

When the second jet slammed into the North World Trade Center Tower in Manhattan, I immediately told students standing next to me, "It's a jihad Ghazwa..they have chosen the Yarmuk option."

Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies Against America Walid Phares

[Acesare*]

I have a very unusual job that many people envy but few understand.

Cat Detective - Vicky Halls

[mrstrecool]

Peering through her farewell bouquet of mop-headed chrysanthemums, Mitzi wondered if it might just be worth serving ten years of prison for slaughtering Troy Haley.
Hubble Bubble-Christina Jones

[Liz]

The decision to bomb the office of the radical Jew lawyer was reached with relative ease.

THE CHAMBER by John Grisham

[Sugar]

I have always been an appalling judge of character. It is my most beguiling virtue.

The Vesuvius Club - Mark Gatiss

[Lilywhite]

It wasn't the first time I'd been shut up in the closet, if the closet isn't too grand a word for the little cupboard under the stairs.

Mary Reilly ~ Valerie Martin

[everydayxangels]

"My grandmother says I destroyed my mother before I was even born"

- Becoming Anna: The Autobiography of a sixteen-year-old by Anna J. Michener

[Liz]

The night of the first killing was filled with song.

The Righteous Men by Sam Bourne

[Lilywhite]

To be honest, I'd been tired for so long I don't remember, not accurately, when I realised something serious was wrong with me.

Dorothy Koomson ~ My Best Friend's Girl

[mrstrecool]

When I was seven, my mother drove the family car off a thirty-foot bridge.
Book Lover by Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack

[Ronny]

I've always loved dirt.

She Flew the Coop by Michael Lee West

[Lilywhite]

A human body starts to decompose four minutes after death

The Chemistry of Death ~ Simon Beckett

[Kell]

"Are they deid? Jesus Johnnybags, are they both deid? F*ck's sake, man, answer us. F*ck's sake."

~ A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil by Christopher Brookmyre.

[Sofia]

This is how it feels when you realize your child is missing: The pit of your stomach freezes fast, while your legs go to jelly.

The Tenth Circle-Jodi Picoult

[Liz]

Making one's home in an unpublished novel wasn't without its compensations.

The Well Of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde

[mrstrecool]

The day I died started out bad and got worse in a hurry.

Undead and Unwed-Mary Janice Davidson

[everydayxangels]

"The first time my husband hit me I was nineteen years old."

- Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen

[Liz]

Watch...

Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett

[Lilywhite]

You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings.

Frankenstein ~ Mary Shelley

[Galactic Space Hamster]

The boy's name was Santiago.

[Icecream]

Late on a full mooned Sunday night, the two figures in work clothes appeared on Highway 2, just outside the small college town of Ashton.

This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti.

[Lilywhite]

Todd adjusted his leather power seat and smiled

Kelley Armstrong ~ Dime Store Magic

[kitty]

I could hear a roll of muffled drums.

The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory

[Liz]

Irwin: This is the tricky one.

Act One from The History Boys by Alan Bennett

[Liz]

There were four of us - George, and William Samuel Harris, and myself, and Montmorency.

Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome

[pontalba]

"What struck him most was the fact that from Monday on he would be Luzhin."
The Defense by Vladimir Nabokov

[Sela]

You're not going to like me.
I apologize for that.
~Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee

[Sofia]

For almost fifteen years, old Berta had spent every day sitting outside her front door.

The Devil And Miss Prym-Paulo Coelho

[Lilywhite]

The truth is that I have never been the mastermind of anything

Anchee Min ~ Empress Orchid

[eveee]

Janet fell to her knees and, bending her head slightly, squeezed her brown eyes tightly shut.

Wishes and tears - Dee Williams

[Kell]

"Hey, Freeman! Wait up!"
~ Vampire Beach: Initiation by Alex Duval

[pontalba]

"He held up the magnifying glass to the light."
The Girl in the Green Glass Mirror by Elizabeth McGregor

[Renniemist]

It was funny, Richard Sharpe thought, that there were no vultures in England.

Sharpe’s Tiger by Bernard Cornwell

[Lilywhite]

At about 8:45 on the morning of July 19, 1999, Mayada Al-Askari was driving to her office at full speed.

Jean Sasson ~ Mayada: Daughter of Iraq

[Liz]

The boys, as they talked to the girls from Marcia Blaine School, stood on the far side of their bicycles holding the handlebars, which established a protective fence of bicycle between the sexes, and the impression that at any moment the boys were likely to be away.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

[pontalba]

"Following an Easter dinner of ham, peas, and creamed potatoes, Charles "Le Cowboy" Bellemare pinched a twenty from his sister, drove to a crack house in Verdum and vanished." Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs

[Kell]

Happy was not a word often used to describe Artemis Fowl's bodyguard.
~ Artemis Fowl & the Lost Continent by Eoin Colfer

[Renniemist]

Everyone is born with some special talent, and Eliza Sommers discovered early on that she had two: a good sense of smell and a good memory.

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende

[Liz]

"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.

Little Women ~ Louisa May Alcott

[Liz]

I remember the whole beginning as a succession of flights and drops, a little see-saw of the right throbs and the wrong.

The Turn of the Screw ~ Henry James

[Ronny]

I was never so frightened as I am now. Affinity by Sarah Waters

[Angel]

It is hot today, the wind blows over the flat fields and marshes with the stink of plague. The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory

[Renniemist]

My name, in those days, was Susan Trinder.

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

[sib]

In a day in June, at the hour when London moves abroad in quest of lunch, a young man stood at the entrance of the Bandolero Restaurant looking earnestly up Shaftesbury Avenue--a large young man in excellent condition, with a pleasant, good-humoured, brown, clean-cut face. ~ Uneasy Money by P G Wodehouse

[~V~]

'The first time was almost an accident; an annoying woman yapping into her phone, pushed in front of a train with the slightest of nudges.'

Without Warning - Carol Smith

but i've just finished it this evening, so i will be adding something else tomorrow no doubt :)

[~V~]

but i've just finished it this evening, so i will be adding something else tomorrow no doubt :)

and here it is:

'For the rest of her life, Charlotte Cleve would blame herself for her son's death because she had decided to have the Mother's Day dinner at six in the evening instead of noon, after church, which is when the Cleves usually had it.'

The Little Friend - Donna Tartt

[SmartBomb]

Aloha!

Just signed up, and it's quite a relief to discover a UK-centric book forum populated by articulate people who understand grammar...

First line of my current book is:

'The boy lay prone in the grass, his chin resting on his hands.'

The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins

[Kell]

Hello there Smartbomb! Fancy popping over to the introductions sub-forum & letting us get to know you? Nice to meet you! :mrgreen:

[SmartBomb]

Hello there Smartbomb! Fancy popping over to the introductions sub-forum & letting us get to know you? Nice to meet you! :mrgreen:

Seeing as you asked so nicely...

[~V~]

ooh i've never done that :smile2:

*pops over smartly*

[Gyre]

'In those days cheap apartments were almost impossible to find in Manhattan, so I had to move to Brooklyn'.

Sophie's Choice by William Styron

[Laramie]

i dont actually know what to put for this. the actual first line is "GREECE - THE DAWN OF TIME" then theres a paragraph to introduce the chapter - first line "this is where my story starts.", then the actual chapter begins "the bird soared and wheeled in the cloudless sky over the silent earth."


from The Fire Thief By Terry Deary. VERY funny

[Sofia]

what was the worst thing you've ever done?-ghost story by peter straub

[Acesare*]

'You must eat the cold porridge,' he told me once.

One for my Baby - Tony Parsons

[Liz]

The Minotaur had been causing trouble far in excess of his literary importance.

Something Rotten ~ Jasper Fforde

[Sugar]

I still can't believe it happened - not here, not in my theatre.

Cat Among the Pigeons - Julia Golding

[Pilgrim]

"Then why are you here?"

Resurrection Men - Ian Rankin

[Liz]

Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ~ L. Frank Baum

[Renniemist]

October 21, 1861

This is what I write to her: the clouds tonight embossed the sky.

March by Geraldine Brooks

[1sillywabbit]

'Death is down every side - street, just waiting.' :lurker:

'Princess Diana's Revenge' by Michael de Larrabeiti


Wabbit xx :readingtwo:

[SmartBomb]

'If the immediate and direct purpose of our life is not suffering then our existence is most ill-adapted to its purpose in the world.'

On the Suffering of the World - Schopenhauer

(Quite the 'sunny day' read, I assure you...)

[pontalba]

"Terrible voting weather, remarked the presiding officer of polling station fourteen as he snapped shut his soaked umbrella and took off the raincoat that had proved of little use to him during the breathless forty-meter dash from the place where he had parked his car to the door through wihch, heart pounding, he had just appeared."

Seeing by Jose Saramago

[Kiwimellon]

Eleanor and Abel - Annette Sanford

Miss Eleanor Bannister owned a house on Florida Street she wanted to stop renting.

[Lilywhite]

It was a hodgepodge setup, that classroom, not unlike the rest of my life at the time

Just Another Kid ~ Torey Hayden

[Lilywhite]

Clare: It's hard being left behind.

Audrey Niffenegger ~ The Time Traveller's Wife

[pontalba]

"I was just off Southwest Pass, between Pecan and Marsh islands, with the green, whitecapping water of the Gulf Stream to the south and the long, flat expanse of the Louisiana coastline behind me--which is really not a coastline at all but instead a huge wetlands area of sawgrass, dead cypress strung with wisps of mass, and a maze of canals and bayous that are choked with Japanese water lilies whose purple flowers audibly pop in the morning and whose root systems can wind around your propeller shaft like cable wire."
Heaven's Prisoners by James Lee Burke

[Kiwimellon]

There's been an accident! she thought. Something's wrong!

The Time of the Ghost - Diana Wynne Jones

[Inver]

:readingtwo: 'In 1959 Florence Green occasionally passed a ngiht when she was not absolutely sure whether she had slept or not'

'The Book Shop' - Penelope Fitzgerald :readingtwo:

[Renniemist]

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon


I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first time.

[pontalba]

Once upon a time there lived in Berlin, Germany, a man called Albinus.

Laughter in the Dark by Vladimir Nabokov

[Liz]

The Mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring-cleaning his little home.

The Wind in the Willows ~ Kenneth Grahame

[Tra_XxX]

It is a trite but true observation, that examples work more forcibly on the mind than precepts: and if this be just in what is odious and blameable, it is more strongly so in what is amiable and praiseworthy.

Joseph Andrews-Henry Fielding

[pontalba]

"It was Hitch Paley, rolling his beat-up Daimler motorbike across the packed sand of the beach behind the Haat Thai Dance Pavilion, who invited me to witness the end of an age."

The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson

[Lilywhite]

Two years after my mother died, my father fell in love with a glamorous blonde Ukrainian divorcee.

Marina Lewycka ~ A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian