A terse, yet friendly opening line to introduce the author (me) of this new blog about books. Shows a certain style, don't you think? For sure, a blatant appeal to your literary sense with this play on other great first lines: “Call me Ishmael” (Herman Melville’s Moby Dick),” Call me Jonah” (Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle) or even “Call me Smitty” (Philip Roth’s The Great American Novel). Even Calvin starts his journal with "Call me Calvin, Boy Genius. Hope of Mankind." So I am in good company.
But why start a new blog with this particular sentence? Because I feel the first line is critical to making you, the reader, continue to read. That is the goal for every author. And I do want you to continue reading my blog, if for no other reason than to hear me out on my radical theory for how to select quality books to read, and then in later posts to share some of these titles with you.
Riddle me this: How do we choose to read the books we read? What makes us willing to devote our precious time to a particular book over other temptations? Its cover? Length? Pictures? Characters? Plot? Writing style? Book club demands? To read it or not to read it, that is the challenge of the times we live in, with the constant siren calls of Web sites, games, news articles, Twitter feeds, Facebook, blogs, recipes, and reviews requesting your time. This is a very important decision: how and why we select which books deserve our time.
And then once a book is selected, what makes us keep reading it or decide to call it quits, if we have the strength and commitment to actually stop reading and move on? How much of a chance to we give a book? The entire book? 50 pages? 10 pages? Less? Are you a member of the clean-plate-finish-every-book-
I submit that it is the very first sentence of a book that makes or breaks any hopes it might have to capture our attention and be deemed worthy of our time. The tone for the entire book is set by how the author selects and uses those first words to convey the foundation of the book, its emotion, characters, and action. These words show the author's commitment to create an interesting situation that will make us want to read more.
Works that start off poorly, in my experience, rarely improve in style, characters, plot, etc., so why should I continue spending time with these books to the end? Any author who is confident that a reader will patiently give him/her additional time, say 50 pages, to develop these areas and grab our interest is fooling him/herself. (OK, I've been PC enough with the s/he attempts. From now on, I'll use the masculine pronoun with the understanding this is inclusive of women as well.)
I for one simply won't spend hours on a book that on the first page already requires I must slog through it. The telling signs of my impatience include: 1) checking how many pages are left in the chapter; 2) skimming to another chapter: 3) hefting the book to estimate the time I will have to be involved in this book before I can start another one. These actions are huge red flags telling me to stop reading. Other books are calling, so I have no problem cutting my losses after one paragraph, sentence or first page, abandoning that book, and dipping into something else more interesting.
Skeptical? OK. Try it yourself. Get up and go grab one of your own favorite books and take a look at the first sentence and first paragraph. (If the book is not readily available, you can often find the first sentence in the "Look Inside" link in its Amazon listing, my new way of identifying quality reads). Notice the presence of three key elements that are introduced immediately - interesting characters, quality writing style, and intriguing story line or topic - and then critically evaluate these by your own definition of quality and interest. Probably, you found something in this favorite book which you immediately liked and were intrigued enough to keep reading.
Now pick up any book you were disappointed with and examine its first sentences. What did this author give you from the onset to make you turn the pages? Not much is my bet. Probably you noticed that the first page was slow in the introduction of plot and character, the writing style not to your liking for some reason, the plot forgettable, offensive, or uninteresting to you. Need you read further to reinforce your first impression?
If you still need convincing, open that same disappointing book to any random page and read a few paragraphs. Probably you'll find the plot, style, and characters have not improved. What you saw originally is carried out throughout the book. While it might be considered a good book by some standards, for you it is just not a great book.
I am now only looking for the great, the fascinating, compelling, and memorable reads, and don't want to pursue unsatisfying works that disappoint from the opening sentences. Sure, I probably missed out on a couple of good books, but likewise I have not wasted a huge amount of time hoping a bodice-ripper will eventually turn out to be another Anna Karenina. "Entice me or you're gone" is my motto. (I do have my own quirky exceptions to this rule -- non-fiction on topics I have an interest in and very long novels -- but more about those in a later post.)
Big talk, you're probably thinking. Show me some examples. So now it's Quiz Time. Take a look at the first lines below. See how many catch your interest. How many can you identify? (answers at the end of this post).
First Sentences:
1. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
2. Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
3. It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
4. I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids -- and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.
5. This is the saddest story I have ever heard.
6. In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.
7. You better not never tell nobody but God.
8. I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.
9. Of all the things that drive men to sea, the most common disaster, I've come to learn, is women.
10. All children, except one, grow up.
11. As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.
12. It was a pleasure to burn.
13. Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were.
14. This is the story of what a Woman's patience can endure, and what a Man's resolution can achieve.
15. The Miss Lonelyhearts of the New York Post-Dispatch (Are you in trouble?—Do-you-need-advice?—Write-to-Miss-Lonelyhearts-and-she-will-help-you) sat at his desk and stared at a piece of white cardboard.
[Answers are below. Go ahead and peek.]
Well, was I right? Didn't each one of these opening sentences grab you enough that you were curious to want to read more? Even if a particular sentence was not your cup of tea, you have to admit that each one demonstrated a writing style that stands out above the norm of most books.
If none of these sentences grabbed you, no problem. It's OK. We all have our individual tastes for plot, character, and style. There are plenty of other opening lines out there for you to pursue and be hooked on according to your own preference. Keep looking until you find these great reads written by authors who want your attention and have taken the trouble to create compelling openings. Don't settle for anything less and continue to read a disappointing book just to say you have finished it. When you are only reading the first sentences, you can evaluate a large number of books quickly!
This first sentence/paragraph indicator of quality is the philosophy I will defend in this blog, presenting books that I have not merely read, but savored, and now want to share with you. The titles selected for postings might come from current best seller lists, or have drifted to obscurity over time. In these postings, I'll give you the title, opening sentence, link to that book on Amazon for more information, and a short (with no spoilers) review, hoping to peak your interest to read the book for yourself.
Check back tomorrow for the first book of this blog. After that, there will be 1-2 weekly posts (I hope!). I've have lots of titles to tempt you. Maybe you will be willing to share your favorites as well. And I promise future posts will not be so long as this one!
Happy reading.
Fred
www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com (Other recommendations)
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First Line Quiz Answers
First Line Quiz Answers
1. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (1813)
2. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy (1877)
3. 1984, George Orwell (1949)
4. Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison (1952)
7. The Color Purple, Alice Walker (1982)
8. I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith (1948)
9. Middle Passage, Charles Johnson (1990)
10. Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie (1911)
11. The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka (1915)
9. Middle Passage, Charles Johnson (1990)
10. Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie (1911)
11. The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka (1915)
12. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (1953)
13. Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell (1936)
14. The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins (1860)
15. Miss Lonelyhearts, Nathaniel West, (1933)
Novel First Sentences
100 Best First Lines of Novels
Books (First Lines)
So very true. Although you shouldn't judge a book by its cover that is often how we select what we are to read. This method makes a lot more sense and might prevent me from having to "slog" through a book that would be a waste of my time.
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