CPL's Book a Week Challenge discussion

I want to try something new this week:

Post the first line from the book you are currently reading. Does it set the tone for the rest of the book and pull you in?

"As the bus entered the prefectural capital of Takamatsu, garden suburbs transformed into city streets of multicolored neon, headlights of oncoming cars, and the checkered lights of office buildings"
That's the first sentence from Koushun Takami's Battle Royale, the book I decided to read for the adventure challenge. Battle Royale is often cited as the one-true Hunger Games as it has a very similar premise and was published well before Suzanne Collins ever dreamed up the world of Panem.

So share the first sentence of the book you're currently reading and fill us in on anything else you're reading, as well!

"The North Sea lay serene, unusual for spring, but night would soon fall on a smoking, broken continent reeling from the shock of war." That is the first sentence from Greg Iles' Spandau Phoenix, which I am 28 pages from finishing but had to stop reading and go back to work.

I've started another YA series, but C.J. Redwine. The first book is Defiant, the second was Deceived. The third comes out in August. An interesting series, can't wait to read the 3rd book and see how things wrap up.

Ann wrote: "The North Sea lay serene, unusual for spring, but night would soon fall on a smoking, broken continent reeling from the shock of war." That is the first sentence from Greg Iles' Spandau Phoenix ...

What a great first line! I definitely feel the pull to find out what war and what comes next! Thanks for sharing, Ann.

"As a child Samantha Jackson Davis loved fairy tales as much as the next girl." The first line is as far as I have made it, but since the back cover calls it "Great escape reading, perfect for the beach," and that is where I am headed tonight for a four day stay at a friend's beach house, I am hopeful it will be a great beach read! :)

Chapter One. The Clark Family Reunion at the Corcoran.

"Located just two blocks from the White House, the Corcoran Gallery of Art feels as if it is off the beaten path in Washington, drawing just a fraction of the city's tourist throngs."

I don't think of this as representative of how great this biography is. Better is the caption of the photo adjacent to the table of contents: "William Andrews Clark spent $7 million building his 121-room mansion, the largest private home in Manhattan. It was torn down in 1926, eleven years after it was completed."

An east wind blew through his tangled hair, assort and fragrant as Cersei's fingers. First line of "Storm of Swords." Book 3 of Game of Thrones. I'm on page 789 & feel like I have been reading this book FOREVER! It is a great read although it does tend to be a little wordy in places.

"The black Cadillac convertible churned down the dirt road, whipping whirls of dust behind it. " -Penumbra by Carolyn Haines...doesn't do much to set the scene but the story is fantastic so far.

The Mercy of Thin Air

"Simon Beeker had been dead four months. I did not know this when I approached his house for a belated visit. Because I was no longer in the habit of skimming obituaries, I missed the announcement."

This first line didn't pull me in immediately, but by the end of the first chapter, I was hooked. I can't put this book down!

After reading a lot of these first lines, it makes me wonder, do authors normally come up with the first line, and then go from there? Or do they go back and add a really catchy first line? I'm sure everyone does it in their own way... but I can't imagine the time that goes into creating a really great first line!

"I was already wide-awake when they came for me." First line of The Curiousity by Stephen P. Kiernan which is about a man that is discovered frozen in an iceberg
100 years prior and then brought back to life in modern times....concept is pretty wild and I'm intrigued so far....not bad for a "drive by" library check out. Looking forward to seeing where this one goes for sure.

Through the small tall bathroom window the December yard is gray and scratchy, the trees calligraphic.
-A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius By DAVE EGGERS

I'm ALMOST done with that one. I don't know that it sets the scene, but I don't think it's a bad first line either.

I'll have to look up the first line of the other book I'm reading when I get home. :)

"We all want to know how it was in the beginning. From the Big Bang to the Garden of Eden to the circumstances of our own births, we yearn to travel back to that distant time when everything was new and full of promise. Perhaps then, we tell ourselves, we can start to make sense of the convoluted mess we are in today."--Mayflower, Nathaniel Philbrick

"Augie Odenkirk had a 1997 Datsun that still ran well in spite of high mileage, but gas was expensive, especially for a man with no job, and City Center was on the far side of the town, so he decided to take the last bus of the night."Mr. Mercedes, Stephen King

I know the first post is a paragraph, but I thought it was an interesting paragraph when I read it the first time. Listening to Mayflower and reading Mr. Mercedes; both well-written and keepoing my interest.