RENT -- Coming soon to a theater near you!

I am a RENThead! There is no denying it!

And I am so excited about RENT coming to the big screen that I am forgoing my first sentence of today to let everyone who looks at my blog know that this astonishing Broadway musical is coming to theaters on November 11th (to the big cities) and November 23rd EVERYWHERE!

AAAAHHHHHHH! (This is me screaming for joy!)

If your life has ever been touched by a single soul I implore you to go see this movie, especially if you've never seen the show or don't have access to it.

I live smack dab in the middle of the heartland (Iowa) and I've seen this show seven times.

I've even considered having some of the words to one of the songs tattooed onto my body because it is how I live my life since seeing the show.

OK, I've taken a breath and I will go back to the book d'jour. See you soon.

Not all sentences are great sentences

I am not one to bash authors or criticize work. It's not in my nature. I figure when I become a published author and my work is out there for others to criticize, then I can do it. But until then, I might say, "It didn't work for me," or "The first sentence didn't grab me."

Here is a first sentence that didn't grab me. It is from Alex Kava's ONE FALSE MOVE:

Max Kramer wore his lucky red tie with his blue power suit.

Now, just because that first sentence does nothing for me, it does not mean I won't read the book, because I enjoy Alex Kava's books immensely and recommend them to my patrons often.

I like first sentences. Some people might like bad first sentences. If you do, check out the Bulwer-Lytton website.

You won't regret it.

It is the shrine to bad first sentences.

Iles be reading this book

I was shelving books this afternoon and picked up the book DEAD SLEEP by Greg Iles to return to the stacks. I opened it up to the first sentence and read, closed the book with satisfaction and placed it in my stack of books to check out. It read:

I stopped shooting people six months ago, just after I won the Pulitzer Prize.

That is an example of a great hook. It's going home with me.

To the Dogs

This is really not my type of book. I could tell by the flap info. No mention of murder, mayhem or distruction (of the bodily kind). However, after seeing Diane Lane's character meet up with her father on a blind date in a trailer for the movie I had to read it. The line she says about "this being wrong on so many levels" cracked me up!

MUST LOVE DOGS by Claire Cook:

I decided to listen to my family and get back out there.

Oh, that's a first sentence that probably resonates with a million people!

I admit that I did my own share of Internet dating (some very scary situations) before I met the "perfect-for-me" guy and luckily my own father was already happily married so no worries there!

Working in a library, I see people daily subscribing to eHarmony, doing the Yahoo! Chat thing or . Everyone is always looking for that perfect-for-them someone, right? Isn't that part of what life is all about?

Hooper is Super Duper

Kay Hooper is one of the authors that I always read the moment I can get my hands on her new book. Her psychic series with the FBI team of psychics is my favorite although I've read some of her older books as well.
Her latest book is CHILL OF FEAR:

The little girl, huddled, shivering, in the back corner of the closet.

As an aside, yesterday I found the best soup. It is Panera Bread's PORTOBELLO AND ROASTED GARLIC BISQUE and it is divine! If you like fungus, as Jeff calls it, go get a bowl of this soup. It makes a great lunch!