What Is The First Paragraph Of Your Current Read?
On the excellent 4MA mailing list, one of the standard questions each month is "What is the first paragraph on Page X of the book you are reading?" I get loads of book recommendations that way, so I thought I would start a similar discussion here, as I am always looking for suggestions for books to read.
So what is the first paragraph or two of the book you are currently reading?
I've just started TO KISS OR KILL by Day Keene from 1951. Here's the first few paragraphs as they are short:
'You never can tell what a big tough Polish boy will do when he finds a nude blonde in his bathroom. Especially if he is a heavyweight fighter who was born back of the yards, is married to a million dollars, and has a psychiatric record.
He might do a number of things. He might tell her to get out. He might yell for his wife. He might blow what's left of his top. He might even do what Barney Mandell did, come to his addled senses.
It really happened, in Chicago. It happened to Barney Mandell on the afternoon on the day he was released from the asylum as cured, because he hadn't wrung a parrot's neck in two years.
Oh, yes. The nude blonde was dead.'
Isn't that marvellous? What a start. Tells you enough about Barney Mandell to make you want to know more.
So what is the first paragraph or two of the book you are currently reading?
I've just started TO KISS OR KILL by Day Keene from 1951. Here's the first few paragraphs as they are short:
'You never can tell what a big tough Polish boy will do when he finds a nude blonde in his bathroom. Especially if he is a heavyweight fighter who was born back of the yards, is married to a million dollars, and has a psychiatric record.
He might do a number of things. He might tell her to get out. He might yell for his wife. He might blow what's left of his top. He might even do what Barney Mandell did, come to his addled senses.
It really happened, in Chicago. It happened to Barney Mandell on the afternoon on the day he was released from the asylum as cured, because he hadn't wrung a parrot's neck in two years.
Oh, yes. The nude blonde was dead.'
Isn't that marvellous? What a start. Tells you enough about Barney Mandell to make you want to know more.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John McFetridge on
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Another good book along these lines is "From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain" by Minister Faust. It's about some superheroes in group therapy. Funny, but also serious. You'll never look at Batman the same again...
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Permalink Reply by Margot Renne Payne on -
The old man's never more entertaining than when he's pissed, which is most of the time.
"They searched me down to my goddamn socks in Beirut, " he said. "Then I got wedged between a fat man and a gum snapper all the way to Munich." He sneezed. "And I think I picked up a bug from a sticky little bastard at Heathrow."
Jackpot.
I watched him in the rearview as he wiped his nose, refolded his handkerchief, and tucked it away. That reminded me to reach across and pull the revolver, snug in its holster, from the glove compartment. I handed it back to the old man. He took a moment to empty the cylinder, work the action, reload, and then clip the piece to his hip.
Smith was one of the last guys on earth to pack a .38. A wheel gun, he called it. Once, when I asked him why, he said he'd never felt comfortable carrying a .45 cocked and locked. "I might shoot off something I'd miss," he said. "Besides, it's not the caliber of the gun, but the caliber of the man behind the gun."
Smith was full of sayings like that, like a fortune cookie with hair.
Beneath a Panamanian Moon, by David Terrenoire
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Permalink Reply by Jude Hardin on
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Very nice, Margot. I haven't read David yet, but I'll definitely check him out now.
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Permalink Reply by Donna Moore on
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You lot are going to bankrupt me!
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Permalink Reply by Don Anderson on
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Based on other comments I'd read on the web I had been meaning to buy this one. The first paragraph just pushed me over the edge.
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Permalink Reply by Laura Root on
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For me it's the "fortune cookie with hair" description :). Off to open an amazon window :)
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Permalink Reply by Daniel Hatadi on
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Now that I've finished Connolly's 500 page mammoth I can happily jump on to a book that just arrived from Amazon today:
If I was going to become a serial killer; I needed to learn more about the job.
I'd bought a copy of Serial Killing For Dummies on eBay from a Seller called RitualSlasher: He was selling his entire book collection because he was 'going away for at least 25 years.' I'd thanked him for the book and told him I hoped he had a lovely time on his vacation.
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Who wrote that, Daniel? Sorry, but it seems a bit amateurish. Maybe a self-published title?
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The colon in the second graf doesn't make much sense, either.
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Umm, you guys aren't serious, are you? If so, I may have to send you both to your rooms: this is from Donna Moore's novel HELENA HANDBASKET, one of the funniest books I've read in ages (and I haven't even finished it).
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Permalink Reply by Julie Lewthwaite on -
I just read Helena recently, Daniel. It is a great start, and, as you're finding, it just gets better. I would recommend doing the interactive version (joining in with the cocktails) but you're likely to end up broke and in a gutter. Besides, you might not have a vase!
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Permalink Reply by Vincent Holland-Keen on -
I was planning on buying that book, even though a certain someone warned against it.
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