I am trying to be more selective with my books lately, hoping to read MOSTLY books I'll truly love. To increases my chances of that actually happening, I've begun selecting what I read next, by whether the first paragraph grabs me. I know this isn't very scientific and I risk passing over some good books in the process, but for now, this is my book selection method.
Every Tuesday, I'll be posting the opening paragraph (maybe two) of my current read. Last week's choice was Easter Parade
, by Richard Yates, which I really enjoyed (no review yet). This week's selection is another Richard Yates book:
Disturbing the Peace
; Richard Yates
; Richard Yates"Everything began to go wrong for Janice Wilder in the late summer of 1960. And the worst part, she always said afterwards, the awful part, was that it seemed to happen without warning.
She was thirty-four and the mother of a ten-year-old son. The fading of her youth didn't bother her--it hadn't been a very carefree or adventurous youth anyway--and if her marriage was more an arrangement than romance, that was all right too. Nobody's life was perfect. She enjoyed the orderly rotation of her days; she enjoyed books, of which she owned a great many; and she enjoyed her high, bright apartment with its view of midtown Manhattan towers. It was neither a rich nor an elegant apartment, but it was comfortable--and 'comfortable' was one of Janice Wilder's favorite words. She was fond of the word 'civilized', too, and of 'reasonable' and 'adjustment' and 'relationship'. Hardly, anything upset or frightened her: the only things that did--sometimes to the point of making her blood run cold--were the things she didn't understand."
Have you read this book? If so, what did you think? Please feel free to join in, First Chapter~First Paragraph~Tuesday Intros.
Interesting process it's sorta like mines.But! I can't read any book it definitely has to have a very good plot or I'm putting the book to the side as time wasted money lost.
ReplyDeletehttp://treasuredspotbookreviews.com
Nice beginning to the book. Sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteI used the first two lines of the book for my teaser quote: from a new culinary mystery.
Crunch Time
This sounds like an interesting book. I'm trying to become a bit more selective too, especially when it comes to accepting reviews.
ReplyDeleteI know this is my petty English teacher coming out, but that semicolon before the "and" would have made me put the book down.
ReplyDeleteI like the opening line and I like the way the author gives us clues about the main character.
This one sounds interesting. I enjoyed Revolutionary Road, so I would definitely give this one a shot. It's interesting that the jacket copy focuses on John Wilder, yet the opening paragraphs are about his wife. Hope you enjoy!
ReplyDeleteHmmmmm, makes me want to know what's up!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a perfectly good book selection method to me. When I'm 'in between' books and don't have a preference one way or another, I'll take a stack off my TBR shelf and just read the opening paragraphs of all of them and the one that appeals to me the most at that time is the one I'll keep reading.
ReplyDeleteYour pick here sounds like a good one. I have Revolutionary Road waiting for me that I'd like to get to soon. But I probably won't be participating this week, as I am still finishing up Paris to the Moon, which I used for last week's Tuesday Intro.
I loved Yates' Revolutionary Road, and think this one sounds interesting as well. I am liking your idea of reading the fist paragraph and basing your reading choices on that!
ReplyDeleteI'll join in. Currently reading Soul Survivor: The Reincarnation of a World War II Fighter Pilot by
ReplyDeleteBruce Leininger and Andrea Leininger
http://booksnwhatnot.blogspot.com/2011/04/first-chapter-first-paragraph-tuesday.html
I haven't read anything by Richard Yates before. I used to read through just about every book I started. Now I decide somewhere between pages 25-50 (depending on how horrible it is).
ReplyDeleteI think it's as valid a way to choose a book as any other. I haven't read any of Yates books, I have his newest on the way. I have my fingers crossed.
ReplyDeleteSo based on the first paragraph, I would definitely read this book. I'm looking forward to your opinions about it!
ReplyDeleteI am also being more selective about what I read, and really, we should read what we enjoy. I hope you enjoy this one. Great new meme! I think I told you that I added it to my Memes Page. :)
ReplyDeleteCertainly sounds worth reading from the introduction.
ReplyDeleteThis is the intro from my current read:
http://the-book-addict.blogspot.com/2011/04/first-paragraph-first-chapter-tuesday.html
I have not read this book, but the opening paragraph would keep me reading.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I've been trying to be more selective about books I read.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed Easter Parade.I hope you enjoy Disturbing the Peace too.
I always say, "What ever method works for you is what you should stick with". So kudos to you. The first chapter of this book sounds very interesting though. If you are looking to be even more selective of what you read you might be interested in Read-It-First.com. They feature some pretty good books every week and chapters are emailed to you. That way you get a sneek peak of the book before you commit it to your TBR pile.
ReplyDeleteHave a great one.
This is a very cool post Diane! After reading the first paragraph I would continue on with the story!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to get more info on that book. What an interesting teaser!
ReplyDeleteYour meme idea is a goodie!!
:)