Hi everyone! I’m really having fun with these book memes lately. This one is hosted by Hoarding Books, and all you have to do is post the first line of the book nearest to you, or any book you’re reading.
The one I decided to post about today was a book I got from the remainders table in a book sale, and I bought it on impulse just based on the first line. You’ll see what I mean. 🙂
Three Daughters of Eve
by Elif Shafak
First Line
It was an ordinary spring day in Istanbul, a long and leaden afternoon like so many others, when she discovered, with a hollowness in her stomach, that she was capable of killing someone.
Intriguing, right? I’m really excited to read this! I’m one chapter in and I have high hopes that this’ll be a good one.
Also, belated congratulations to Ms. Shafak, since her latest novel, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize last year. Hopefully I can get a copy of that after reading Three Daughters of Eve.
Do you have any book on your TBR with a great opening line? Let me know in the comments, or head over here to see other first lines posted for this week!
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Gil Reads Books 
My first line is from Collateral Damage by Lynette Eason:
Forward Operating Base camp Charles. Afghanistan, September
Sergeant First Class Asher James stared at Captain Phillip Newell, sure that he’d heard wrong.
Hi Paula, that’s pretty intriguing! I’ve never read this author before but maybe I’ll check her out. Hope it’ll shape up to be a great read for you.
Happy Friday! My first line is from “A Family to Call Ours” by Merrillee Whren:
“The sideways rain drenched Caleb Fitzpatrick as he slogged down Maine Street.”
Happy Friday too! From the title it sounds like it’s going to be a heartwarming story. I hope this read will be a win for you 🙂
Happy Friday!
On my blog I’m sharing the first line from Lone Star Ranger by Renae Brumbaugh Green: https://christianfictiongirl.blog/2020/01/17/first-line-friday-119/. I’m currently on chapter 6, so I’ll share the first line from there.
“Easy, now,” Elizabeth whispered, working to keep fear from her voice.
Hope you have an excellent weekend filled with awesome reading time. 🙂❤📖
Oooh, interesting! Hope this’ll be a great read for you 🙂 Happy Friday!
That is intriguing! I’m sharing the first lines from Guarded by Sara Davison on my blog today, so here’s a semi-random line from Chapter 8:
“I don’t do relationship advice, so you, Nicole, and God are going to have to work this out amongst yourselves.”
Happy Friday!
I laughed at this! Great line and hope it turns out to be a good read. Happy Friday too!
Ooh, this is intriguing! I read Shafak’s Booker-nominated “10 Minutes…” last month and liked a lot of it, though a few aspects didn’t work as well for me. I’d be very intrigued to try another of her books, and this one sounds promising! Hope you’ll enjoy it! 🙂
I’m curious, what worked/didn’t work for you in that novel? So far ‘Three Daughters’ compresses a period of one woman’s life in a day, and it looks like she used something similar for ’10 Minutes’. I’m very intrigued as to how she’ll pull it off.
Ah, ok. I didn’t realize the framing device might be similar. I’ll be interested to see your final thoughts on whether it works in this novel!
10 Minutes is divided into three sections, structured around the main character’s death. I liked the concept, and the first section worked really well for me as it recapped her life, but afterwards the entire story-telling method changed, it switched to different perspectives, the plot became less believable, and the focus seemed to shift away from the characters and onto a particular cemetery in Istanbul. The shift was just too large and unnecessary to feel effective, for me. I’ll link my review in case you’re curious, but I think that’s the gist of it.
Oh, that’s interesting. This book is also divided into parts, so now with your comment I might be particularly attuned to how she handles the transitions. I’ve also read your review for that one; very well-thought out. I’ll have to see how this one goes and hopefully I can pick up “10 Minutes” soon after. 🙂 Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Thank you for reading them! 🙂 I’ll look forward to your posts on both Shafak books if you end up reviewing them, I’d love to see how they turn out for you!