First Lines: June 2012

The first words you read can often set the tone for the entire story.  I thought it would be fun to keep track of the first lines of the books I read each month and share them with you.  Below are the first lines for all the books I read in June.

Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder:

“‘That’s pathetic, Yelena,’ Dax complained.”

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

“I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first time.”

Velveteen by Daniel Marks

“When Velveteen Monroe pictured Bonesaw’s house – and she did, more often than could be considered healthy – blood striped the paint a muddy reddish-brown, internal organs floated in jars of formaldehyde, and great big taxidermy crows leered from branches that twisted from the wall like palsied arms.”

The Mosts by Melissa Senate

“For two weeks, I asked everyone I met if they thought long-distance relationships worked.”

A Beautiful Evil by Kelly Keaton

“‘Everyone knows what you are now.  Question is, Selkirk, will you live up to their expectations or be the complete failure I think you really are?’”

Suicide Notes by Michael Thomas Ford

“I read somewhere that when astronauts come back to Earth after floating around in space they get sick to their stomachs because the air here smells like rotting meat to them.”

Changeling by Philippa Gregory

“The hammering on the door shot him into wakefulness like a handgun going off in his face.”

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

“I remember being born.”

The River Witch by Kimberly Brock

“These were the first things I heard, the sounds of women and water on a cool November morning just south of the Cumberland River.”

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

“After a year of slavery in the salt mines of Endovier, Celaena Sardothien was accustomed to being escorted everywhere in shackles and at sword point.”

Lost in the River of Grass by Ginny Rorby

“Mr.Vickers takes the seat behind the bus driver.”

My favorite line this month was from Suicide Notes.  It is just so downright weird that I had to know more about the character who would fixate on such an obscure fact.

My least favorite line was from Lost in the River of Grass.  While the book redeems itself, that first line just didn't grab me.