Ten opening lines and not a "dark and stormy night" among them? Sheesh, they don't write them like they used to. Thank goodness. The first pages of the books that made up The Christian Science Monitor's 10 Best Fiction Books of 2011 grab readers and propel them forward. They're set in a room, a taxi, a memory; they dip into childhood, nature and death; they are grabbers.
Do you recognize the following opening lines?
The news of Anders Eckman's death came by way of Aerogram, a piece of bright blue airmail paper that served as both the stationery and, when folded over and sealed along the edges, the envelope. Who even knew they still made such things? This single sheet had traveled from Brazil to Minnesota to mark the passing of a man, a breath of tissue so insubstantial that only the stamp seemed to anchor it to this world.
The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach |
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Once Upon a River, by Bonnie Jo Campbell |
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The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides |
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State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett |
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