Tuesday, August 28, 2012

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros


For today's First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intro, I'm featuring a book I plan to start towards the end of this week (loved this author's previous books).

Feel free to join in by posting the opening paragraph (sometimes maybe a few ) of a book you decided to read based on the opening paragraph (s). Grab the banner and play along.

Sept 25th - Penguin - Europa

(intro comes from an eGalley)

 CHILDHOOD: The Story of Don Achille

"My friendship with Lila began the day we decided to go up the dark stairs that led, step after step, flight after flight, to the door of Don Achille's apartment.

I remember the violet light of the courtyard, the smells of a warm spring evening.  The mothers were making dinner, it was time to go home, but we delayed, challenging each other, without ever saying a word, testing our courage.  For some time, in school and outside of it, that was what we had been doing.  Lila would thrust her whole arm into the black mouth of the manhole, and I, in turn, immediately did the same, my heart pounding, hoping that the cockroaches wouldn't run over my skin, that the rats wouldn't bite me.  Lila climbed up to Signora Spangnulo's ground-floor window, and, hanging from the iron bar that the clothesline was attached to, swung back and forth, then lowered herself down to the sidewalk, and I immediately did the same, although I was afraid of falling and hurting myself.  Lila stuck into her skin the rusted safety pin she had found on the street somewhere but kept in her pocket like the gift of a fairy godmother;  I watched the metal point as it dug a whitish tunnel into her palm, and then, when she pulled it out and handed it to me, I did the same."

What do you think? Keep reading or abandon?

19 comments:

  1. Yes, I'd keep reading. Funny that both of our books have a wedding ceremony on the front, but they seem like very different books. That rusty safety pin got to me. Here's Mine

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  2. Ah, I'm a little worried about that rusty safety pin! I want to know more....

    Here's MY TUESDAY MEMES POST

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  3. I like that the cover is a picture from the back, not the front. It's refreshing :) Thanks for sharing.
    My Teaser
    Juli @ Universe in Words

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  4. Not fully engaged yet. I might need to read a little bit more.

    This week, I am reading one of my favorite series.

    A Brew to a Kill by Cleo Coyle

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  5. I probably would read a little more too!

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  6. I'd want to know more, especially about the little girls on the book cover!

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  7. I noticed this one when it was featured on Shelf Awareness. It does sound good.

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  8. I really wanna check this out. Love that cover....!!

    Here is my Tuesday post!

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  9. I would keep reading, wondering more about Lila and what dangers she leads her friend into. (this kind of friend is a mother's worst nightmare ;)

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  10. I might keep reading this one, at least until I found out the main thrust of the book.

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  11. Well considering the fact that I want to now find a copy of this book, I say, keep reading! Thanks for your kind wishes left on my blog the other day--dear husband and I are limping along. I still am working on the Pilgrimage of Harold Fry--it seems the only time lately I have to read is bedtime and not much gets read at that time of the day!
    *smiles*

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  12. I just got this one, and I have to say, I love the opening -- I'd be all over it!

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  13. I'm sorry, Diane, but it's not grabbing me. It's probably the cockroaches, rats, and rusty pin.

    My first paragraph is here: Joyfully Retired

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  14. The one thing about Elena Ferrante that I love is how wonderfully vivid she is with all of her descriptions. While The Days of Abandonment was not one of her books I enjoyed for several other reasons, I do want to pick up another one. This one does sound pretty intriguing, so I'll have to put it "in the list!" :)

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    1. I read that Elena Ferrante is actually a pen name and the author is a male. In any event, quite talented in my opinion.

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  15. Love the cover but that first paragraph did not do it for me, at all. Hope it gets better than that.

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  16. Lila sounds dangerous! I'd read more....

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  17. I would keep reading because it sounds like they will have a connection that is the focal point of the story?

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