Win an indie bookstore gift certificate!
First Lines of Books
I’m addicted to great first lines—I even have a document of first lines for which I want to someday write a book. If you’re a first-line admirer, or a book addict *like me* here’s your chance to show some chops.
Below are ten of my favorite book’s first lines; below, out of order, are the book and the authors. Match them all correctly and win a twenty-five-dollar gift certificate from Belmont Books, a favorite bookstore owned by one of my favorite friends. (Where I’ll be having my virtual zoom launch for The Fashion Orphans (co-authored with M.J. Rose and interviewed by B.A. Shapiro) on Thursday, February 3rd at 7 PM. First correct list to reach my inbox wins.
FIRST LINES
1. ‘Sind Sie schwanger, fesche Frau?’ (Are you pregnant, pretty woman?)
2. Serene was a word you could put to Brooklyn, New York.
3. When Augustus came out on the porch the blue pigs were eating a rattlesnake—not a very big one.
4. . My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist.
5. The morning express bloated with passengers slowed to a crawl, and then lurched forward suddenly, as though to resume full speed.
6. Although it is dawn, inside Bhima’s heart it is dusk.
7. One night I dreamed I had a dog.
8. There were many things about Elizabeth Ferguson that the people of Bayview disliked.
9. Steever stood on the southbound local platform of the Lexington Avenue line at East Fifty-ninth Street and chewed his gum with a gentle motion of his heavy jaw, like a soft-mouthed retriever schooled to hold game firmly but without damaging it.
10. Take care to chop the onion fine.
Titles & Authors
A. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty
B. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
C. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three by John Godey
D. Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones
E. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
F. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
G. You Had Me At Woof by Julie Klam
H. Born Survivors by Wendy Holden
I. Rosie by Anne Lamott
J. The Space Between Us by Thrity Umigar