Tampa Book Buzz

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

opening lines:good girls don’t by kelley st. john

From Kelley St. John’s new book Good Girls Don’t (coming out in December 2005):

Digging through her briefcase, Colette Campbell snagged her cellular phone in one hand and her contact’s information sheet in the other, while her sister rummaged through her green glitter-embellished duffel bag to grab a bright, pink, misshapen vibrator. Both girls were notorious for bringing their work home; tonight was no exception.

Oh yes, you read that correctly.

I started reading Good Girls Don’t Friday morning in my doctor’s office’s waiting room and caused a minor stir when I half-gasped, half-laughed while reading the first page. I finished it last night and will post my review this week. Go ahead and put Good Girls Don’t on your holiday shopping list for yourself, your sister or your friend. (But not for your mother or your elderly aunt!)

opening lines:the notebook by nicholas sparks

Who am I? And how, I wonder, will this story end

The sun has come up and I am sitting by a window that is foggy with the breath of a life gone by. I’m a sight this morning: two shirts, heavy pants, a scarf wrapped twice around my neck and tucked into a thick sweater knitted by my daughter thirty birthdays ago. The thermostat in my room is set as high as it will go, and a smaller space heater sits directly behind me. It clicks and groans and spews hot air like a fairy-tale dragon, and still my body shivers with a cold that will never go away, a cold that has been eighty years in the making. Eighty years, I think sometimes, and despite my own acceptance of my age, it still amazes me that I haven’t been warm since George Bush was president. I wonder if this is how it is for everyone my age.

My life? It isn’t easy to explain….

— The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks is the Tampa Book Buzz Online Book Club pick for October.

great opening lines:r is for ricochet by sue grafton

The basic question is this: given human nature, are any of us really capable of change? The mistakes other people make are usually patently obvious. Our own are tougher to recognize. In most cases, our path through life reflects a fundamental truth about who we are now and who we’ve been since birth. We’re optimists or pessimists, joyful or depressed, gullible or cynical, inclined to seek adventure or to avoid all risks. Therapy might strengthen our assets or offset our liabilities, but in the main we do what we do because we’ve always done it that way, even when the outcome is bad…perhaps especially when the outcome is bad. This is a story about romance — love gone right, love gone wrong, and matters somewhere in between.

–from R is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton