December 25, 2015

Top 10 First Lines of 2015


First Lines Friday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie of Precision Reviews. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along. First lines are what grab readers. It sets the tone for the remainder of the book. What makes a good first line? Clever wording. A bold statement that makes me wonder who, what, when, where or why. A sentence(s) that prompts me to nod my head, say hmmm and read further. Below are the top 10 first lines from books I've read this year. Hopefully these spark your attention too.

Click the title/author for my previously published review of the books featured in my Top 10 First Lines of 2015.

10. "At dusk they pour from the sky. They blow across the ramparts, turn cartwheels over rooftops, flutter into the ravines between houses. Entire streets swirl with them, flashing white against the cobbles. Urgent message to the inhabitants of this town, they say. Depart immediately to open country." ~ All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

9. "Is today a good day to die?" ~ All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

8. "Every woman has one. That name you Google at two o'clock in the morning." ~ The One That Got Away by Bethany Chase

7. "For as long as I can remember, I have always had the feeling of not quite fitting in, not being the same as everyone else. I'm certain that is why I became a writer." ~ Summer Secrets by Jane Green

6. "Hoodwinked. Bamboozled. Betrayed. My rage was bottomless." ~ Naughtier Than Nice by Eric Jerome Dickey

5. "Son, last Sunday the host of a popular news show asked me what it meant to lose my body." ~ Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

4. "She is closer to me than my shadow." ~ Moment of Silence by Sister Souljah

3. "I've read many more books than you. It doesn't matter how many you've read. I've read more. Believe me. I've had the time." ~ Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

2. "This book is not for everyone. I have a specific audience in mind—people who care deeply about racial justice but who, for any number of reasons, do not appreciate the magnitude of the crisis faced by communities of color as a result of mass incarceration." ~ The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

1. "When you are alone and too tired even to turn on any of your devices, you let yourself linger in a past stacked among your pillows." ~ Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

 

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