First line of current book - 2017

[shirley]

She's buried beneath a silver birch tree down towards the old train tracks her grave marked with a Cairn.

 

The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins

[dragonmyst]

I woke to the sound of a mosquito whining in my left ear and my mother screeching in the right.

Fever 1793 By Laurie Halse Anderson

[chesilbeach]

On the high land overlooking the distant channel and the hills beyond it, the spring day, set in azure, was laced with gold and green.

 

The Misses Mallett by E. H. Young

[shirley]

The Reverend Dodd vicar of St Michaels on the Cliff stood at the window of his comfortable bachelor study looking out into the night. 

 

The Cornish Murder - John Bude

[chesilbeach]

Roger, aged seven, and no longer the youngest of the family, ran in wide zigzags, to and fro, across the steep field that sloped up from the lake to Holly Howe, the farm where they were staying for part of the summer holidays.
 
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

[frankie]

"It's Sunday morning, fellow alumni, only a week removed from that fateful evening at the Moonbeam Catering Hall."

 

Home Land by Sam Lipsyte

[chaliepud]

Roger, aged seven, and no longer the youngest of the family, ran in wide zigzags, to and fro, across the steep field that sloped up from the lake to Holly Howe, the farm where they were staying for part of the summer holidays.

 

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

Definitely in the top five of my favourite books as a child!

 

As I sit here with one foot on either side of the ledge, looking down from twelve stories above the streets of Boston, I can't help but think about suicide.

 

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

[Lau_Lou]

The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses...

 

The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

[shirley]

The funeral is supposed to be a quiet affair for the deceased had no friends.

 

The Miniaturist - Jessie Burton

[frankie]

"The nation had watched Shaiana cry so many times."

 

Chart Throb by Ben Elton

[chesilbeach]

I was back at St Mary's.

 

And The Rest Is History by Jodi Taylor

[shirley]

On ‎14‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 3:07 PM, chesilbeach said:

I was back at St Mary's.

 

And The Rest Is History by Jodi Taylor

Oh I am way behind on these books need to buy from book 8.

 

If you reach the camp before me i'll let you live the soldier said.

Never Never  - James Patterson

[chesilbeach]

"A fox got in amongst the hens last night, and ravished our best layer," remarked Miss Lanyon

 

Venetia by Georgette Heyer

[shirley]

The story had begun deep inside the Vatican, had leaked out into the city of Rome, and within days had whipped around the globe with the momentum of a biblical prophecy.

 

The Woman of God - James Patterson

[chesilbeach]

Thus had another ideal tumbled to the rubbish heap!  She seemed to be breathing the dust which the newly fallen had stirred up among its dead fellows.  Certainly she was breathing the dust from somewhere.

 

From A to Z by Susan Glaspell, from The Persephone Book of Short Stories

[chesilbeach]

'Ring a ring o' roses,' sand Daisy for the fifth time.  'A pocket full of posies.  Atishoo, atishoo, we all fall down.'  She subsided thankfully into the rocking chair while Oliver and Miranda flung themselves on the floor and rolled around squealing.

 

Anthem for Doomed Youth by Carola Dunn

[frankie]

"Something pursued her."

 

The Crime Writer by Jill Dawson 

[Lau_Lou]

This is a story about something that happened long ago when your grandfather was a child.

 

The Magician's Nephew (The Chronicles Of Narnia) C S Lewis

 

[Ooshie]

That my first encounter with Mitko B. ended in a betrayal, even a minor one, should have given me greater warning at the time, which should in turn have made my desire for him less, if not done away with it completely.

 

What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell (which I have just finished)

 

 

From the doorway I can already smell the scent of old books, a perfume of crumbling pages and time-worn leather.

 

Playing with Fire by Tess Gerritsen (which I have just started)

 

[Lau_Lou]

There was a scream, and then the loud roar of fire enveloping silken hangings...

 

The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory

[Onion Budgie]

"The method of laying out a corpse in Missouri sure took the proverbial cake."

 

Days Without End by Sebastian Barry

 

[ian]

It started snowing shortly after ten am. (The Dogs of Riga - Henning Mankell)

[shirley]

A bouquet of succulent flavours was drifting up the stairs from the kitchen, whetting Jane's appetite and urging her to get out of bed. 

 

The Forgotten Summer Carol Drinkwater

[bobblybear]

Princeton, in the summer, smelled of nothing, and although Ifemelu liked the tranquil greenness of the many trees, the clean streets and stately homes, the delicately overpriced shops and the quiet, abiding air of earned grace, it was this, the lack of a smell, that most appealed to her, perhaps because the other American cities she knew well had all smelled distinctly.

 

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

[willoyd]

14 hours ago, bobblybear said:

Princeton, in the summer, smelled of nothing, and although Ifemelu liked the tranquil greenness of the many trees, the clean streets and stately homes, the delicately overpriced shops and the quiet, abiding air of earned grace, it was this, the lack of a smell, that most appealed to her, perhaps because the other American cities she knew well had all smelled distinctly.

 

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

 

Wow - I just love that.  For me that's very Austenesque (can't pay a better compliment!), and so makes me want to keep reading.

 

Bernie had lain at the foot of the knoll for hours, half conscious.

Winter in Madrid by CJ Sansom