RAGBRAI XXXIII

Okay, so I lied. I've not been as current as I'd to be but I will continue to keep trying. Maybe the goal should be to keep it short and sweet.

My first sentence today is for the people riding across the state of Iowa this week in the annual RAGBRAI bike ride, sponsored by the Des Moines Register. It started in Le Mars (the ice cream capital of the world) on Sunday, July 24th and ends on Saturday, July 30th in Guttenberg.

It is from the book 16,000 SUSPECTS, a serial novel by 17 Iowa writers commissioned by Public Radio KUNI.

It is the year 2010 now, a full decade after it happened.

I hope the riders are all well and safe. Good luck to all of the participants!

Girls, Interrupted

It's been awhile since I've posted; mainly because of some touchy situations at work.
But, I am back and plan on writing with a vengeance.

Because of the problems that I've been dealing with at work, I have made two books a priority for my summer reading, before I go crazy and there have been times when I thought it might happen.

The books, along with their first sentences, are listed below:

The first is THE BELL JAR by Slyvia Plath:

It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York.

The second is GIRL, INTERRUPTED by Susanna Kaysen:

People ask, how did you get in there?

Until tomorrow...

Like Higgins-Clark

At my library, Mary Higgins Clark has a huge following. Often we are looking for authors to recommend that are like Mary Higgins Clark.

From THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT by Carlene Thompson:

When he entered the bar at ten, Kelly's was packed, which he guessed was usual for a Saturday night.

I like Carlene Thompson, Wendy Corsi Staub and Erica Spindler as read-similars for Mary Higgins Clark. There are many others but these are the ones I like the best.

Just finished: A recommended read for Jay Leno, THE STUPID CROOK BOOK by Leland Gregory, a book of vignettes highlighting stupid criminal activity. It's a fun break from fiction.

Something's Amish

Another of my favorite authors is Jodi Picoult. She is wonderful at what I call the "what-if" concept, bringing a simple concept and turning it into a complex novel, just by asking what-if.

Although not considered mystery, many of her books have a mysterious element to them which always brings me to read her next book. Currently on my Mount TBR, which is growing smaller every day, is MY SISTER'S KEEPER.

This first sentence is from the first book I ever read of hers.

PLAIN TRUTH by Jodi Picoult:

She had often dreamed of her little sister floating dead beneath the surface of the ice, but tonight, for the first time, she envisioned Hannah clawing to get out.

Just finished:ELEVEN ON TOP by Janet Evanovich, a fun book with typical Plum action and mishaps. Don't miss this one if you are Plum Crazy!

Weed 'em and weep!

If I had to choose one thing that I absolutely hate about my job it would be weeding! I hate to get rid of a perfectly good book; a book that somebody, someday might want to read. Whenever I have to weed or approve the weeding of a book, I wish I had all of the space available to me so I could keep the books forever. Unfortunately, we have weeding policies that we have to follow and we weed if a book is in bad shape or has not circulated in a specific amount of time. And I have heard all of the arguments for weeding:

It keeps the collection looking neat.

It makes room for new stuff.

It boosts circulation because people see that you rid yourself of the "old" stuff.

Old information is "bad" information.

I hear it; it doesn't mean that I have to like it.

Here is the best first sentence of the books that are before me today for weeding. It comes from Sidney Sheldon's book, THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT:

Through the dusty windshield of his car Chief of Police Georgios Skouri watched the office buildings and hotels of downtown Athens collapse in a slow dance of disintegration, one after the other like rows of giant pins in some cosmic bowling alley.

It got my attention. Too bad I have to get rid of it.

Hot and Sweaty

This morning I woke up in a mood. It was hot, I was sweaty and then I realized I had nothing really that I could complain about. I had waited since November of last year for this kind of weather to get here. I guess I'd hoped it would ease in gradually but we got hit hard and quick with the heat.

Thus, I went in search of a great, first sentence: One that matched my mood and my surroundings. It didn't take long.

From GONE SOUTH by Robert R. McCammon:

It was hell's season, and the air smelled of burning children.

I also like:

At 6:30 A.M., when Washington, D.C., was waking to another sweltering summer day, a Ledbetter Oil Company tank truck rolled of a ramp of the capital beltway, spilling five hundred gallons of highly flammable black gunk across four lanes of traffic.

That comes from THE ROCKY ROAD TO ROMANCE by Janet Evanovich.

But my favorite first sentences are from her books ONE FOR THE MONEY and HARD EIGHT. The first sentence from ONE FOR THE MONEY is printed below.

There are some men who enter a woman's life and screw it up forever.

The first sentence from HARD EIGHT I can't print here because this is a public library project.

Look it up! Or email me, tell me what you think of my blog and I'll tell you what it is.

Stay cool! Happy reading!

Edgar Mint

Although I've not yet read this book, nor do I have it in my library, I:

a)intend to purchase it for the library.

b)want to read it.

The first sentence of this book was submitted several times during a list-serv thread on first sentences and recently brought to my attention by another librarian acquaintance of mine, Stacy Alesi. Stacy said this was one her all-time favorite first sentences and...I have to agree. It's a great one.

Without further ado, the first sentence to THE MIRACLE LIFE OF EDGAR MINT by Brady Udall.

If I could tell you only one thing about my life
it would be this: when I was seven years old the
mailman ran over my head.

That sentence is priceless. Love it!

Beautiful Bob-Whites

I was an early and voracious reader. I read my first Stephen King novel when I was nine-years-old and a friend of my father's saw me and was quite amazed. She still comments on it to me to this day.

Although I hungered for that type of literature as a child, and it is still my preferred reading of choice, it never would have started without:

"Oh, not again!" yelped fourteen-year-old Trixie Belden, as her books went crashing to the stairs.

That book is TRIXIE BELDEN #36: THE MYSTERY OF THE ANTIQUE DOLL by Kathryn Kenny. Trixie Belden and the Bob-Whites.

Man, did I love these guys! I had every Trixie Belden book written and as I look back, I wish I had kept them all. Of course, I didn't; I moved away when I was seventeen and disposed of them all. But now I have the list and will one day have them all again. And I'm putting them under glass.

I lived in a time when my parent did not give in to my ever whim. I went through my share of "I want" and "Gimme" but my dad never had any of it. But I do remember, that through the injustice of it all, if I couldn't get what I wanted, I could always get a book. If I never said so before, "Thanks Dad."

A Superior Mystery

I belong to several list-servs that pertain to books and get many ideas, book lists and read-alikes from them as well as meeting, reading about and discussing topics with authors that are new to me.

One of the powers that this blog gives me is introducing my readers to authors that they might not know.

The following sentence is from the book A SUPERIOR MYSTERY by Carl Brookins, a new-to-me author within the past year. He graciously donated this book to our library when I wrote a post to the Dorothy-L list-serv explaining the money situation that we don't have in our library. And in case I never said "thank you" Carl, thank you.

Sparks flew into the dark sky from the fat black stack and died in the night, as an unseen hand shoveled more coal into the firebox.

I liked this sentence because of the "fat black stack"; it was music to my ears. I haven't read this book but it's on my Mount TBR (to be read) along with three or four hundred others.

Yeesh! So many books, so little time!

Currently reading VELOCITY by Dean Koontz and loving it!

Happy reading! ~ Shannon

Not always as it seems

Sometimes, the first sentence might WOW me and the rest of the book does nothing for me. For example:

I turned the Chrysler onto the Florida Turnpike with Rollo Kramer's headless body in the trunk, and all the time I'm thinking I should've put some plastic down.

That is the first sentence from Victor Gischler's book, GUN MONKEYS. One of my top favorite first sentences, but not my kind of book. Not that it was a baaad book, just wasn't my type.

Then there is the sentence below:

Chloe Larson was, as usual, in a mad and blinding rush.

This comes from RETRIBUTION, by Jilliane Hoffman. Not a stunner sentence, but the book made my top three last year.
I have her latest book, LAST WITNESS, up next.

Just goes to show you that things aren't always as they seem.