Wednesday, December 10, 2008

November Firsts (Better late than never)

These are my favorite 'first' sentences of novels that I read in November.

I am consumed with impure thoughts.

My father took one hundred and thirty-two minutes to die. I counted.

Though not, in hindsight, so startling as the misdeeds she would perpetrate when she returned to boarding school as a sophomore, what happened to Frankie Landau-Banks the summer after her freshman year was a shock.

Altars. Saviors. Rock'n'roll. I braved my fear of spiders, dust plumes as thick as L.A. smog, and the stench of dog piss that the last owner of the house had let permeate the basement to tirelessly search my father's record collection for my next holy grail.

Lana Nicarbith hummed of the number eleven.

There's nothing really different about today.

Piper decided to jump off of the roof. It wasn't a rash decision on her part.

The first Chinese fortune I collected the summer I hooked up with Paul--the guy some might consider my first--read: The smart thing is to prepare for the unexpected. I should have taken it more seriously. Fortunes can be like little instructions for life; they may not fit yours at that particular moment, after that particular meal of kung pao chicken, but eventually they will. Trust me on this.

The match snapped, then sizzled, and I woke up fast.

The best time to talk to ghosts is just before the sun comes up. That's when they can hear us true, Momma said. That's when ghosts can answer us.

Sam has it. Question is, how bad?

What I realized just now...I don't think I've EVER read so many books in one month before!

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

So what was your grand total for the month?

Becky said...

50 books--not including picture books which don't count in my totals.

Lenore Appelhans said...

Whoa - that is more than some people read in a lifetime ;)

Great first sentences!

Paige Y. said...

Wow! I don't think I've ever read 50 books in a month. I may have made it to 30 or so but definitely not 50. My job has consumed my life the past 6 months and both my reading and blogging have suffered greatly. I hope to do some catch up over the Christmas break.

Jen Robinson said...

That sure is a lot of books! I like these posts, where you list the first lines. I have fun seeing which ones I recognize.