Monthly Archives: March 2013

Great opening paragraph 7… ‘The Big Sleep’ #amreading #FirstPara

“It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.”
Raymond Chandler From ‘The Big Sleep’ by Raymond Chandler 

Try one of these  #FirstParas & discover a new author:-
‘Jack Maggs’ by Peter Carey
‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell
‘The Secret Agent’ by Joseph Conrad

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#Books #FirstPara THE BIG SLEEP by Raymond Chandler https://wp.me/p5gEM4-8B via @SandraDanby 

Great opening paragraph…7

The Big Sleep
“It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.”

‘The Big Sleep’ by Raymond Chandler

Great opening paragraph 6… ‘Goldfinger’ #amreading #FirstPara

“James Bond, with two double bourbons inside him, sat in the final departure lounge of Miami Airport and thought about life and death.”
Ian FlemingFrom ‘Goldfinger’ by Ian Fleming

Try one of these #FirstParas & discover a new author:-
‘The Murder Room’ by PD James
‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
‘Couples’ by John Updike

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#Books #FirstPara GOLDFINGER by Ian Fleming http://wp.me/p5gEM4-7F via @SandraDanby 

Great opening paragraph… 6

Goldfinger“James Bond, with two double bourbons inside him, sat in the final departure lounge of Miami Airport and thought about life and death.”

‘Goldfinger’ by Ian Fleming

A book I love… Stig of the Dump

stig of the dump (3)

To my sadness, I haven’t got my original copy of this book. I read it when I was about 9 or 10, I guess, and it opened up a new world of possibilities to me. That you could be free to live your own life, free of adults, free of rules, free to imagine, free to believe.  The writer Clive King grew up in a house near a chalk pit, so I’d like to think he did actually meet Stig. I re-read it recently and the story was just as fresh. It was published 40 years ago but it hasn’t aged at all.

‘Stig of the Dump’ by Clive King

Great opening paragraph 5… ‘Moon Tiger’ #amreading #FirstPara

” ‘I’m writing a history of the world,’ she says. And the hands of the nurse are arrested for a moment; she looks down at this old woman, this old ill woman. ‘Well, my goodness,’ the nurse says. ‘That’s quite a thing to be doing, isn’t it?’ And then she becomes busy again, she heaves and tucks and smooths – ‘Upsy a bit, dear, that’s a good girl – then we’ll get you a cup of tea.’ ”
Penelope Lively From ‘Moon Tiger’ by Penelope Lively 

Read the #FirstPara of FAMILY ALBUM, another novel by Penelope Lively.

Try one of these #FirstParas & discover a new author:-
‘Spies’ by Michael Frayn
‘Room’ by Emma Donoghue
‘After You’d Gone’ by Maggie O’Farrell

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#Books #FirstPara MOON TIGER by Penelope Lively via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-7w

Great opening paragraph…5

Moon Tiger (2)

“‘I’m writing a history of the world,’ she says. And the hands of the nurse are arrested for a moment; she looks down at this old woman, this old ill woman. ‘Well, my goodness,’ the nurse says. ‘That’s quite a thing to be doing, isn’t it?’ And then she becomes busy again, she heaves and tucks and smooths – ‘Upsy a bit, dear, that’s a good girl – then we’ll get you a cup of tea.'”

‘Moon Tiger’ by Penelope Lively

Great opening paragraph… 4 ‘Sophie’s World’ #amreading #FirstPara

“Sophie Amundsen was on her way home from school. She had walked the first part of the way with Joanna. They had been discussing robots. Joanna thought the human brain was like an advanced computer. Sophie was not certain she agreed. Surely a person was more than a piece of hardware?”
Jostein GaarderFrom ‘Sophie’s World’ by Jostein Gaarder

Try one of these #FirstParas & discover a new author:-
‘The Heart is a Lonely Hunter’ by Carson McCullers
‘The Sense of an Ending’ by Julian Barnes
‘That They May Face the Rising Sun’ by John McGahern

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#Books #FirstPara SOPHIE’S WORLD by Jostein Gaarder http://wp.me/p5gEM4-4S via @SandraDanby 

Great opening paragraph…4

Sophie's World
Sophie Amundsen was on her way home from school. She had walked the first part of the way with Joanna. They had been discussing robots. Joanna thought the human brain was like an advanced computer. Sophie was not certain she agreed. Surely a person was more than a piece of hardware?
‘Sophie’s World’ by Jostein Gaarder

Great opening paragraph 3… ‘Herzog’ #amreading #FirstPara

“If I am out of my mind, it’s all right with me, thought Moses Herzog.”
Saul Bellow From ‘Herzog’ by Saul Bellow

Try one of these #FirstParas & discover a new author:-
‘Enduring Love’ by Ian McKewan
‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding
‘The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry’ by Rachel Joyce

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#Books #FirstPara HERZOG by Saul Bellow http://wp.me/p5gEM4-4G via @SandraDanby