I love to browse bookshops and bookshelves in my friends’ homes, hostels, etc. But there’s a special magic to choosing/feeling which books draw you in.
My method, since blurbs on the back longer than four lines are often horribly revealing of plot points I’d rather discover myself, tends to be examining the cover and title, the highlighted recommendations by other authors, the author’s first-page dedication, and the final (most important) threshold: The first line. If all these speak to me, I briefly flip through the pages to check out if the type of writing (word choices, dialogue style, etc) seem cool. Then it’s a go, and it often is! Often I’ll also just trust a recommendation blindly from a friend and start reading without any of that, which is also a nice treat.
There’s arguably a special art to crafting a first line that will draw you in, make you feel something, or activate your imagination instantly. What’s the best first line you’ve read, and was the book good too?
by crunchyseason
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“We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold.”
–Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
This line grabs the reader’s attention and sets the tone for the rest of the book. The story itself is pretty good; Thompson’s writing is spectacular.
The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.