RUTH REMEMBERED DROWNING

                            

In an earlier blog I listed some of my favourite opening sentences form kids’ novels. The sentences below come from adult novels and all of them made me want to keep reading. (An added bonus of scanning through the books on my shelves for these opening lines was discovering a lot of old treasures that I want to reread!)

The strangest thing about my wife’s return from the dead was how other people reacted.  (The Beginner’s Goodbye by Anne Tyler)

Ruth remembered drowning.  (Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwartz) 

The world began to fall apart at nine in the evening. (The Crocodile Bird by Ruth Rendell)

 

The girl was the first to hear the loud pounding on the door. (Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

I seem to have trouble dying. (The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill)

He found the body on the forty-third day of his walk. (Careless in Red by Elizabeth George)

On the afternoon of October 12, 1990, my twin brother Thomas entered the Three Rivers, Connecticut Public Library, retreated to one of the rear study carrels, and prayed to God the sacrifice he was about to commit would be deemed acceptable.

(I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb)

By mistake Larry Weller took someone else’s tweed jacket instead of his own and it wasn’t till he jammed his hand in the pocket that he knew something was wrong. (Larry’s Party by Carol Shields)

It was as black in the closet as old blood. (The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

I recall with utter clarity the first great shock of my life. (Trinity by Leon Uris)

I have an ingrained fear of auctions dating back to the third year of my life. (The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float by Farley Mowat)

This last one is really more than one sentence but it promises you a fun read.

These are my New Year’s Resolutions:

1.     I will help the blind across the road.

2.    2. I will hang my trousers up.

3.    I will put the sleeves back on my records.

4.    I will not start smoking.

5.    I will stop squeezing my spots.

6.    I will be kind to the dog.

7.    I will help the poor and ignorant.

8.    After hearing the disgusting noises from downstairs last night, I have also vowed never to drink alcohol.

(The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend)