January 7th, 2007 First Lines of Novels

Written by Angela Meady, Head of Children's and Youth Services

The feeling of cracking open a new book is something akin to the feeling of facing the first calendar page of a new year - everything is still ahead of you, you are filled with hope that you
are in for a good adventure and you feel a frisson of excitement as you realize that you don't know what is about to happen next.

For this reason, the first line of a novel needs to be strong and evocative. It can either spur you
on to further reading or disappoint by failing to ignite your imagination. I'd like to share some of the interesting first lines from various Canadian fiction books written for children, teens and adults. I hope that you may peruse these offerings and perhaps be tempted to read a little further and discover a new book to begin your new year.

Lifetimes ago, under a banyan tree in the village of Hasnapur, an astrologer cupped his
ears - his satellite dish to the stars - and foretold my widowhood and exile.
Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee

A field of grain like an amber stiletto in the afternoon sun; she had to half close her eyes.
Dvorak in Love by Josef Skvorecky

It's midnight and I'm at a pay phone at a highway rest stop with a greasy receiver in my
ear, smelling hot fat from the burger place down the hall and waiting for my mom to stop
dumping on me.
The Boy From Earth by Richard Scrimger

Sometimes, something as small as an ad in the daily newspaper can change your whole
life.
No Small Thing by Natale Ghent

Like broken fingers reaching through the earth, the tombstones begged for something.
Grave Secrets by Sylvia McNicoll

Two years after my mother died my father fell in love with a glamorous blond Ukrainian
divorcee.
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka

The storm boiled above the Indian ocean, a dark, bristling wall of cloud, blocking our
passage west.
Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel

Time is not a line but a dimension, like the dimensions of space.
Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood

All day there are glaring omens that go undetected.
The White Bone by Barbara Gowdy

So far as Larry could remember, Janice started hiding the bombs the same week as the
Plymouth died.
A Short History of Indians in Canada: Stories by Thomas King

The land is so long, and the people travelling in it so few, the curious animals barely
notice them from one lifetime to the next.
A Discovery of Strangers by Rudy Wiebe

I hated secrets - the thought of hiding the truth just made my stomach turn.
The Mystery of the Frozen Brains by Marty Chan

I feel like a refugee from a Douglas Coupland novel.
JPOD by Douglas Coupland.

Happy reading in 2007.