Tampa Book Buzz

great opening lines:critical by robin cook

“Within the course of a week spanning March and April 2007, a serious, untoward event in the health of three strangers, two of whom lost their lives, was destined to impact the lives of hundreds, even thousands of people in a complicated web of causality. The victims had no premonition of their individual tragedies. Though they were all generally healthy married men of similar ages, they were engaged in totally different occupations, and each had absolutely no knowledge of the others, either socially or through business. One was a Caucasian physician who experienced a painful and debilitating athletic injury; the second an African-American computer programmer who contracted a fulminant, and rapidly fatal, nosocomial postoperative infection; and the third was an Asian-American accountant who suffered a ruthless, execution-style death.”

— Critical by Robin Cook

great opening lines:spoiled rotten america:outrages of everyday life by larry miller

I don’t know about you, but I spend half my life looking at people through Norman Rockwell lenses: loving them, seeing their decency and generosity, smiling at the foibles of their children, feeling their sweetness and cheerful good manners in every small encounter of the day; watching the gentle rustle of a tree in the low, western sun and knowing, really knowing, the perfect joy of it; and so, so grateful for the mysterious good fortune to be born here, now, together.

The other half of the time, I look around me and think, “How sweet it would be to kill them all.”

Do you know that feeling?  Do you know what I mean?  Of course you do.  We all do.

Most people swing back and forth between light and dark like a sliver-backed gorilla with nothing but time.  Sometimes people act out their good instincts.  This is called charity.  Sometimes they act out their bad instincts.  This is called strangling.  And sometimes they shuffle quietly from home to work and back again, simply puzzled by it all.  This is called The Rest of Us.

—-Spoiled Rotten America:Outrages of Everyday Life by Larry Miller

great opening lines:beautiful lies by lisa unger

There were times when she wished he were dead.  Not that she’d never met him, or that he’d never been born, but that he’d get hit by a car or get himself killed in some other violent way like a bar fight, or his arm would get caught in a machine and he would bleed to death before anyone could save him.  And she wished that in those final moments, when he felt his life draining from him, that he’d understand what a bastard he was, what a waste of life.  She could envision him, his blood pooling in a black kidney-shaped puddle beneath him as he repented in terror, understanding with a final clarity that he was about to pay for the man he was.  In those dark moments he’d be sorry, so sorry.  But it would be too late.  That’s how she felt about him.

—-Beautiful Lies by Lisa Unger

great opening lines:dishing hollywood:the real scoop on tinseltown’s most notorious scandals by laurie jacobson

Lives tragically cut short, unsolved mysteries, dramatic suicides, steamy affairs — Tinseltown serves them up in generous portions.  The town’s full of tales like that; always has been, always will.  The town is also full of people who pay big dough or pull strings to make sure certain details of those stories never reach the light of day.  But they always surface eventually…if you know where to look.  I’ve been writing about Hollywood for close to twenty-five years.  I got the straight scoop.  But stick around, I got more than that.  Pull up a chair, bring your appetite, and get it while it’s hot, kiddo.

—Dishing Hollywood:The Real Scoop on Tinseltown’s Most Notorious Scandals by Laurie Jacobson

great opening lines:lisey’s story by stephen king

To the public eye, the spouses of well-known writers are all but invisible, and no one knew it better than Lisey Landon.  Her husband had won the Pulitzer and the National Book Award, but Lisey had given only one interview in her life.  This was for the well-known women’s magazine that publishes the column “Yes, I’m Married to Him!”  She spent roughly half of its five-hundred-word length explaining that her nickname rhymed with “CeeCee.”  Most of the other half had to do with her recipe for slow-cooked roast beef.  Lisey’s sister Amanda said that the picture accompanying the interview made Lisey look fat.

     –Lisey’s Story by Stephen King

Lisey’s Story by Stephen King is the TBB Online Book Club pick for this month.  The Tampa Book Buzz Online Book Club is housed at Target’s Bookmarked website.  Each month we pick a book to read and discuss on the Bookmarked site.  During the month, I’ll post tidbits about the author and/or the book here.  At the end of the month, I’ll tell you what I thought of the book and hopefully you’ll do the same.  Email me at tampafilmfan(at)aol.com for more info or to join. 

great opening lines:between, georgia by joshilyn jackson

The war began thirty years, nine months, and seven days ago, when I was deaf and blind, floating silent and serene inside Hazel Crabtree.  I was secreted in Hazel’s womb, which was cloaked in her pale and freckled skin, which was in turn hidden by the baggy sweatsuits she adopted so she would look fat instead of pregnant.  Which was ridiculous, because who ever heard of a fat Crabtree?  They were all tall and weedy, slouching around like wilting stems, red hair blooming out the top.

Hazel Crabtree was fifteen years old, and no one thought twice about her expanding waistline as she crept around the edges of rooms, watching her mother ignore her and ignoring me in turn as I kicked at her and spun and grew myself some lungs.

I never heard Hazel’s side of the story.   ….

from Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson

great opening lines:company by max berry

Monday morning and there’s one less donut than there should be.

Keen observers note the reduced mass straightaway but stay silent, because saying, “Hey, is that only seven donuts?” would betray their donut experience.  It’s not great for your career to be known as the person who can spot the difference between seven and eight donuts at a glance.  Everyone studiously avoids mentioning the missing donut until Roger turns up and sees the empty plate.

Roger says, “Where’s my donut?”

Elizabeth dabs at her mouth with a piece of paper towel.  “I only took one.” Roger looks at her.  “What?”

“That’s a defensive response.  I asked where my donut was.  You tell me how many you took.  What does that say?”

“It says I took one donut,” Elizabeth says, rattled.

“But I didn’t ask how many donuts you took.  Naturally I would assume you took one.  But by taking the trouble to articulate that assumption, you imply, deliberately or otherwise, that it’s debatable.”

          — from Company by Max Berry

great opening lines:the dead beat by marilyn johnson

People have been slipping out of this world in occupational clusters, I’ve noticed, for years.  Four journalists passed their deadline one day, and their obits filled a whole corner of the paper.  What news sent them over the edge?  How often do you see two great old actresses take their bows, or two major-league strike out together?  Often enough to spook.  Some days sculptors are called, some days pioneer cartoonists.  A New York Times editor threw up his hands on June 13, 2004, and ran two almost perfectly parallel stories under one headline: WINNERS OF THE MEDAL OF HONOR FROM TWO ERAS DIE; BOTH MEN SAVED FELLOW MARINES.

      —-The Dead Beat:Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasure of Obituaries by Marilyn Johnson

great opening lines:the lovely bones by alice sebold

My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.

–The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

great opening lines:eternally yours by s.l. juers

To whomever might read this:

Suicide! It is not a decision that comes easily. The mere consideration of such a drastic undertaking, by any God-fearing person believing he will incur eternal damnation in Hell, must be the result of extreme circumstances. So, though you don’t know me, and have only chanced to come upon this letter, I want you to understand.

—- Eternally Yours by S.L. Juers