Yesterday morning I finished Janet Evanovich's new release, "Wicked Charms," and was confronted with that delicious question we bookworms love: what to read next. So many options, so many characters to love and hate, so many adventures to take!
It's rare that I have more than one or two books waiting in the wings, but I went on a bit of a requesting spree at the library and I have five books checked out! "The Ice Twins" was recommended by two of my co-workers at the library and the other four are on my summer to-read list.
I'm not in the mood for anything in particular, so I decided to choose my next book by reading the opening lines of each novel:
The Kill Artist: The restorer raised his magnifying visor and switched off the bank of fluorescent lights. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the murkiness of evening in the cathedral; then he inspected a tiny portion of the painting just below an arrow wound on the leg of Saint Stephen.
I, Ripper: When I cut the woman's throat, her eyes betrayed not pain, not fear, but utter confusion. Truly, no creature can understand its own obliteration. Our expectation of death is real but highly theoretical until the moment is upon us and so it was with her.
The Ice Twins: Our chairs are placed precisely two yards apart. And they are both facing the big desk, as if we are a couple having marital therapy; a feeling I know too well. Dominating the room is a pair of lofty, uncurtained, eighteenth-century sash windows: twin portraits of a dark and dimming London sky.
The Girl You Left Behind: I was dreaming of food. Crisp baguettes, the flesh of the bread a virginal white, still steaming from the oven, and ripe cheese, its borders creeping toward the edge of the plate. Grapes and plums, stacked high in bowls, dusky and fragrant, their scent filling the air.
I'll Give You the Sun: This is how it all begins. With Zephyr and Fry -- reigning neighborhood sociopaths -- torpedoing after me and the whole forest floor shaking under my feet as I blast through air, trees, this white-hot panic.
What lines pulled you in, intrigued you, made you want to keep reading? Which book would you pick up next if you were me? If I were choosing a book based solely on the opening sentences, having no idea what the book was about, I'd go with the tantalizing and vivid food description of "The Girl You Left Behind." And so, my next read is:
Great way to pick your next book.
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