“What are your favorite book beginnings and/or endings?”
1. Beginning: The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley
Yes, it's my literature text for the year. Yes, I'm snark-recapping it once we start covering it in school. Yes, it has pages of musings and introspection and the plot is slooooow. But it has absolute gems in it. The beginning sentence is so. damn. beautiful:
The past is a foreign country; we do things differently there.2. Beginning: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Sensing a pattern here? Yes, I'm a boring person. But literally. The ENTIRE FIRST CHAPTER is pure gold. It's describing the entire setting in the most heartbreaking, the most tragic way ever. (It doesn't help any that the plot is sooooo amazing afterwards.)
3. Beginning: Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M. Lee
Death lived in a glass tower at the centre of the White Court.Breaking from tradition, this is a contemporary fantasy and was released just last month, but this. This sentence is way up there. I glimpsed the first line on Amazon Look Inside and bought it instantly. (And did not regret the choice.)
4. Ending: The End (A Series of Unfortunate Events) by Lemony Snicket
Okay, I'll try to steer clear of spoilers, but the amount of detail and call-backs is staggering. And for a depressing-ish series, the ending is pretty uplifting. It's also a bit like Marvel movies — so don't stop when you see the
5. Ending: A Song of Ice and Fire by GRRM
What? Oh, sorry, this is my least favorite ending. BECAUSE IT DOESN'T EXIST YET AND I WANT IT. SO. MUCH.
If you're also in the blog chain, leave a comment, tell me what you thought about my picks, and tell me your URL/date so I'll know to drop by!
And if you're not, still leave a comment about your thoughts so we can fight/debate/eat each other to compete for the best dramatic entrances and exits. And don't forget to read everyone else's amazing posts!
8th – http://zarahoffman.com/
15th – http://miriamjoywrites.com/
and http://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com/ (We’ll announce the topic for next month’s chain.)
Oh my gosh, Starlight. This post is spot-on. I have yet to read Gates of Thread and Stone (but have it sitting on my Kindle!) and I might just have to check out The Go-Between. Those are epic beginnings.
ReplyDeleteAnd I loved A Series of Unfortunate Events! I'm still feeling conflicted about the end of the series, because of all the loose ends that were left, but I really loved all the books, so... *happy sigh*
Oooh, ASOIAF. I feel like I'm being told left and right to read that series, but my parents are hesitant to let me because of the *adult content*. *disgruntled noises*
And A TALE OF TWO CITIES. OH. MY GOSH. THAT BOOK IS PURE GOLD. ALL OF IT.
Anyhow, great post! *cue applause*
Gates of Thread and Stone impressed me way more than I thought it would. (I think I'll write a review for it on Literoses soon, hehe.) The Go-Between is one of my lit texts this year; watch out for the imminent recaps I'll post here!
DeleteASOIAF is awesome, so add me to that legion of people telling you to read them. I totally understand about parents (mine, I think, gave up trying to stop me read any books), and I'm sure they'll come round soon :D
....
ReplyDeleteI completely forgot about A Series of Unfortunate Events. Darn. Awesome, for sure. I definitely enjoy A Tale of Two Cities' beginning, but I don't know any of the others, ESPECIALLY not A Song of Ice and Fire because I did not get to finish Game of Thrones, much less the other books, much less the other books he hasn't written, by the time they was due at the library.
So I guess I have a new reading goal. Great post!
A Series of Unfortunate Events is really underrated, in my opinion. And good luck in finishing ASOIAF before the library due date! That's a really difficult task, considering I can't even fit the entire series on my bookshelf and have to balance them on my windowsill instead, ahaha.
DeleteGOOD MORNING! :-D
ReplyDeleteAnyway, "A Tale of Two Cities" PWNs all comers with its first line! :-P
AFTERNOON! And thanks so much for dropping by (and checking out my other posts too). I fell in love with the beginning of A Tale of Two Cities and read it when I was ten -- my first ever classic, so I have lots of fond memories :)
DeleteThis iss a great post
ReplyDelete