top ten beginnings/endings of books
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This is going to be difficult I think. I may have to go home and stare at the book shelf until the beginnings and endings come to me. I'm going to go ahead and split it up 5/5 as well. That takes the pressure off a little!
beginnings
1. Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
I WILL NOT
Drink more than fourteen alcohol units a week.
Smoke.
Waste money on:...
Behave sluttishly around the house, but instead imagine others are watching
Self explanatory, is it not?
2. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
I write this sitting in the kitchen sink. That is, my feet are in it; the rest of me is on the draining-board, which I have padded with our dog's blanket and the tea-cosy. I can't say that I am really comfortable, and there is a depressing smell of carbolic soap, but this is the only part of the kitchen where there is any daylight left. And I have found that sitting in a place where you have never sat before can be inspiring -- I wrote my very best poem while sitting on the hen-house. Through even that isn't a very good poem. I have decided my poetry is so bad that I mustn't write any more of it.
It's the tone from the very first sentences that are captivating. A classic book, and a wonderful reading experience. I didn't read this book until a few years ago. I'm sure that I'll read it again.
3. The Shadow of the Wind by Carols Ruiz Zafon
There's nothing about this book that I didn't enjoy. Pretty easy to guess why the mystery and heartbreak from the first few lines will always remain memorable.
There's nothing about this book that I didn't enjoy. Pretty easy to guess why the mystery and heartbreak from the first few lines will always remain memorable.
I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first time. It was early summer of 1945, and we walked through the streets of a Barcelona trapped beneath ashen skies as dawn poured over Rambla de Santa Monica in a wreath of liquid copper.
"Daniel, you mustn't tell anyone what you're about to see today," my father warned. "Not even your friend Tomas. No one."
"Not even Mommy?"
My father sighed, hiding behind the sad smile that followed him like a shadow through life.
"Of course you can tell her," he answered, heavyhearted. "We keep no secrets from her. You can tell her everything."
Shortly after the Civil War, an outbreak of cholera had taken my mother away.....
4. The Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
All this happened, more or less.
Again, how can it get better...
5. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul.
I would write more of the opening passage, but I'm sure you get it. If not, then read it again, or for the first time. Hard to believe that I read this book for the first time only in recent years as well. Hard to imagine a book so heavily referenced not coming into my life until my 30's!
endings
1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
This book changed my mind about reading YA Fiction. I enjoyed it the whole way through. The ending made me love it.
I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn't already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race -- that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.
None of those things, however, came out of my mouth.
All I was able to do was turn to Liesel Meminger and tell her the only truth I truly know. I said it to the book thief and I say it now to you.
*******A LAST NOTE FROM YOUR NARRATOR*******I am haunted by humans
2. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
This one also goes without explanation. Granted that you've read the book. Or even watched the movie. If it's the latter, then you should read the book and discover the true magic of Pi's journey.
As an aside, story of sole survivor, Mr. Piscine Molitor Patel, Indian citizen, is an astounding story of courage and endurance in the face of extraordinary difficult and tragic circumstances. In the experience of this investigator, his story is unparalleled in the history of shipwrecks. Very few castaways can claim to have survived so long at sea as Mr. Patel, and none in the company of an adult Bengal tiger.
3. A Visit From the Good Squad by Jennifer Egan
I love this book from the first line till the very last. I even considered it for my top beginnings. I chose the ending because the beauty of this story is how everything just comes together in the last pages. It's newly one of my most favorite books.
"She's not here," Bennie said. "I'm betting she's far away." Hi tipped his gaze at the sky. "I hope she found a good life," he said at last. "She deserves it."
They resumed walking. Alex felt an ache in his eyes and throat. "I don't know what happened to me," he said, shaking his head. "I honestly don't."
Bennie glanced at him, a middle-aged man with chaotic silver hair and thoughtful eyes. "You grew up, Alex," he said, "just like the rest of us."
Alex closed his eyes and listened: a storefront gate sliding down. A dog barking hoarsely. The lowing of trucks over bridges. The velvety night in his ears. And the hum, always that hum, which maybe wasn't an echo after all, but the sound of time passing.
4. Life by Keith Richards
Yeah, you probably thinks it's odd that I would put a memoir in this list. Even more strange that I would list under my top endings, right? This is a monster of a read. It starts out pretty slowly and involves a lot of the mechanics of musicians which is completely foreign to me. Then you get into the nitty gritty of Keith's life. Nothing fits the "sex, drugs, rock-n-roll" cliche better than this story. The way Keith ends the memoir with the telling of his mother's passing was very artistic to me. Especially, considering the title. Life. It's precious. It's fun. It's what we make it. These last lines about his mother, Doris, were beautiful.
...She had and unerring pitch and a beautiful sense of music, which she got from her parents, from Emma and Gus, who first taught me "Malaguena." It was Doris who game me my first review. I remember her coming home from work. I was on the top of the stairs, playing "Malaguena." She went through the kitchen, did something with pots and pans. She began to hum along with me. Suddenly she came to the foot of the stairs. "Is that you? i thought it was the radio." Two bars of "Malaguena" and you're in.
5. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
I can't believe that I'm admitting this...I just read A Wrinkle in Time for the first time ever. I know what you're thinking. What kind of reader is she? Well, I guess I'm a fake. I started out reading crap till I learned how to appreciate finer works of literature. I'm enjoying reading all the stories that I missed while I was too cool to care about books in my teens. I really loved this story. I especially loved the end. The way you just feel happiness and love and want to grab a hold of them just the way Meg does.
Then there was a whirring, and Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which were standing in front of them, and the joy and love were so tangible that Meg felt that if she only knew where to reach she could touch it with her bare hands.
Mrs Whatsit said breathlessly, "Oh, my darlings, I'm sorry we don't have time to say good-bye to you properly. You see, we have to --"
But they never learned what it was that Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which had to do, for there was a gust of wind, and they were gone.
There ya go! I'm quickly learning that I take these lists much too seriously. I spent 4 hours today just trying to decide what books I'd like include. The lesson I've learned is to take better notes and write in my reviews whether I loved or hated the beginnings/endings of books. I may need that memory later! HA
