Can you name one? Maybe "best of times worst of times" or that one about a woman needing a man or something from Jane Austen?
Whether told in the third or first person, the best book openings I read this week didn't always go for that killer first line. The pithy seemingly incontrovertible statement favoured by George Orwell.
(You know, like "At fifty, everyone has the face he deserves.")
Rather the authors focussed on creating empathy with the lead character, and in some cases making me intrigued by the setting.
Authors such as Saul Bellow, John Updike, Graham Greene, Jonathan Coe, Julian Barnes, Kazuo Ishiguro, David Nicholls. David Mitchell.
But the stand-out for me was the opening to Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant..., for creating a character that leaps off the page, that draws you in, someone unique.
Some writers invite you to marvel at their artistry (Updike, Martin Amis), almost showing off, admire my brilliance, they say. Honeyman just tells the story (and what a story).
I've listened to Honeyman in various interviews and I'm always left wondering how she came up with Eleanor, what part of herself, her experience, did she draw on to create such a vivid character.
Apparently no part of herself, but I beg to differ.
Such detail and cinematic storytelling has to come from somewhere. If ever there were a book made for a film adaptation, Oliphant is it.
In the links this week, absolutely no link to what I've just been talking about. But I will say this.
Covid has had all sorts of effects, positive and negative, but for people like Eleanor, people that live on their own, people who are getting over some sort of loss, loneliness is a cruel weight to shoulder as the nights draw in.
So if you do one thing this week, don't make it reading my newsletter on your smartphone, make it reaching out to someone who you think might appreciate it.
Right, not sure where that came from:O). Here starteth the links. I do hope you get something out of them..
The sublime talent that wasMaradona. They don't make them (or that tune) like that anymore. Pump up the volume. Life. Is Life. Ba da da da da. Life is Life... (The experience was slightly marred for me by the preceding YouTube ad being Nigel Farage trying to sell me some share tips. Bizarre. He even uses the term "financial independence" to flog his "fortune and freedom" newsletter. Skip ad!)
Right, that's all folks. I'm off to watch The Queen's Gambit (having finished the brilliant The Americans) with the missus.
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