First Line Friday & A Few Other Things

FIRST LINE FRIDAY...First lines have always intrigued me since I heard an author say that writing the first sentence is, by far, the most difficult part of writing a novel. The reasoning was that a first sentence can make the reader continue reading or cause the book to be tossed aside. So, go to your To Be Read Pile, choose as many books as you want and share the first line. Be sure to include the title and author so that if your reader also finds it intriguing, they can find the book. Also, share your thoughts about the first line. Does it draw you in? Is it...exciting...thought provoking...scary...funny?

"On Wednesday, July 10 1910, as a light fog drifted along the River Scheldt, Cap. Henry George Randall prepared his ship, the SS Montrose, for what should have been the most routine of voyages, from Antwerp direct to Quebec City, Canada."
Thunderstruck
Erik Larson

This is a very descriptive first line because it hints at what's to come. The words "for what should have been the most routine of voyages" tells me this voyage will be anything but. Although, I know the stories and the outcome, I look forward to see how Larson weaves them together.

I've wanted to read this novel for a while. I loved "Devil in the White City" and have heard great things about this novel. It's the seperate stories of how Guglielmo Marconi invented the telegraph as well as Dr. Hawley Crippin's flight from justice after murdering his wife. The stories come together as the new invention is used to capture Crippin and his accomplice... his lover, Ethel le Neve, who posed as his son on the trans-Atlantic voyage.

I have to say, also, that I love the cover. It's dark and foreboding with a lightning bolt (divine justice, perhaps?) looking like it's hitting the ship. As I love novels set in the early 20th century, the cover is also appealing because it is a photograph so it's historically accurate.

Larson's note to reader's before the novel begins also struck a chord because he quotes from a wonderful mystery we just read and discussed for my book club... The Murder Room by PD James. She is an author that I had read years ago and truly enjoyed but had not read recently. Several women also agreed with me and we all decided she is an author whose books deserve a re-read. So, to read his note just solidifies that I will most definitely pick up another Dalgliesh or Cornelia Grey in the near future.

The last sentence of his note is genius. It reads, "If, for example, you learn more than you need to know about a certain piece of flesh, I apologize, though, I confess I make that apology only halfheartedly." I can just imagine Mr. Larson at his keyboard, typing that. What a way to suck the reader in! I'm really not one for "gore" but I know that he researched the subject and felt it was necessary to include. Authors like that are what make reading, even reading the gory parts, so worthwhile.


Today, I will carry my Dooney & Bourke Medallion Satchel. I'm wearing a silk shirt with multicolored threads sewn throughout. The colors in the bag are a perfect complement to the shirt. The inside of the bag is sky blue and makes me happy every time I open it.

Because the title of my blog is Bags, Books & Bon Jovi...
Because I've already discussed both... bags and books...
Because I haven't blogged about Bon Jovi in a while...
Because I recently found this picture...
And because it just makes me VERY HAPPY...