“In deck-chairs all along the front the bald pink knees of Bradford businessmen nuzzled the sun.”
From ‘The Ghost Road’ by Pat Barker #1RegenerationTrilogy
Try one of these #FirstParas & discover a new author:-
‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier
‘The Murder Room’ by PD James
‘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 THE GHOST ROAD by Pat Barker http://wp.me/p5gEM4-ev via @SandraDanby
“In deck-chairs all along the front the bald pink knees of Bradford businessmen nuzzled the sun.”
‘The Ghost Road’, Pat Barker
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit hole, and that means comfort.”
From ‘The Hobbit’ by JRR Tolkien
Try one of these #FirstParas & discover a new author:-
‘A Bouquet of Barbed Wire’ by Andrea Newman
‘The Guest Cat’ by Takashi Hiraide
‘Before I Go to Sleep’ by SJ Watson
And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#Books #FirstPara THE HOBBIT by JRR Tolkien http://wp.me/p5gEM4-gZ via @SandraDanby
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit hole, and that means comfort.”
‘The Hobbit’ by JRR Tolkein
“Spring 1521. I could hear a roll of muffled drums. But I could see nothing but the lacing on the bodice of the lady standing in front of me, blocking my view of the scaffold. I had been at this court for more than a year and attended hundreds of festivities; but never before one like this.”
From ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ by Philippa Gregory
Try one of these #FirstParas & discover a new author:-
‘The Cement Garden’ by Ian McEwan
‘Midnight’s Children’ by Salman Rushdie
‘Herzog’ by Saul Bellow
And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#Books #FirstPara THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL by @PhilippaGBooks http://wp.me/p5gEM4-eI via @SandraDanby
“Spring 1521. I could hear a roll of muffled drums. But I could see nothing but the lacing on the bodice of the lady standing in front of me, blocking my view of the scaffold. I had been at this court for more than a year and attended hundreds of festivities; but never before one like this.”
‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ by Philippa Gregory
“The third week of June, and there it is again: the same almost embarrassingly familiar breath of sweetness that comes every year about this time. I catch it on the warm evening air as I walk past the well-ordered gardens in my quiet street, and for a moment I’m a child again and everything’s before me – all the frightening, half-understood promise of life.”
From ‘Spies’ by Michael Frayn
Try one of these #FirstParas & discover a new author:-
‘Brighton Rock’ by Graham Greene
‘In Cold Blood’ by Truman Capote
‘The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle’ by Haruki Murakami
And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#Books #FirstPara SPIES by Michael Frayn https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-4a4 via @SandraDanby
“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive, and for a while I could not enter, for the way was barred to me. There was a padlock and a chain upon the gate. I called in my dream to the lodge-keeper, and had no answer, and peering closer through the rusted spokes of the gate I saw that the lodge was uninhabited.”
From ‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier
Try one of these #FirstParas & discover a new author:-
‘Sacred Hearts’ by Sarah Dunant
‘The Sea The Sea’ by Iris Murdoch
‘True Grit’ by Charles Portis
And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#Books #FirstPara REBECCA by Daphne du Maurier http://wp.me/p5gEM4-8c via @SandraDanby
“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive, and for a while I could not enter, for the way was barred to me. There was a padlock and a chain upon the gate. I called in my dream to the lodge-keeper, and had no answer, and peering closer through the rusted spokes of the gate I saw that the lodge was uninhabited.”
‘Rebecca’ Daphne du Maurier
I go back a long way with William Boyd to A Good Man in Africa and An Ice-Cream War. He is a consummate storyteller. But it was Brazzaville Beach that shocked me and made me a fan. I came late to Any Human Heart, I don’t know why. 
Logan Mountstuart is a fragile everyman who lives through a momentous century who gets involved in history but in off-key ways. I was locked into the story from the beginning with the three boys at school and their challenges to each other: a nifty device of differentiating the three characters.
Read my reviews of these other books by William Boyd:-
LOVE IS BLIND
NAT TATE: AN AMERICAN ARTIST 1928-1960
ORDINARY THUNDERSTORMS
SWEET CARESS
THE BLUE AFTERNOON
THE DREAMS OF BETHANY MELLMOTH
TRIO
WAITING FOR SUNRISE
… and try the first paragraph of ARMADILLO
If you like this, try these:-
‘Days Without End’ by Sebastian Barry #1DaysWithoutEnd
‘Disobedient’ by Elizabeth Freemantle
‘The Women’ by Kristin Hannah
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#BookReview ANY HUMAN HEART by William Boyd https://wp.me/p5gEM4-gf via @SandraDanby
SANDRA DANBY'S BOOK REVIEWS 