p e n c h a n t

Reading the first line in a book is like meeting someone for the first time, or opening a birthday gift. There’s anticipation, a moving forward into something new and unknown. The first line should read like poetry, worded carefully, perfectly. It’s important to make the right first impression. The first line should be a promise to the reader that the book is worth the read.

Here I’ve chosen the first line from a novel I picked off of a discount table, attracted by the cover, the title, and on closer look, the reviews, jacket flap copy, and the photographs of Edward Curtis, the turn-of-the-century photographer of native Americans, on whom the book focuses. This first line is a subtle tug, like a beckoning gesture. It includes two of the themes—art and memory—and introduces the structure, that of overlapping a faraway past (signified by “Leonardo”) with a recent past (“a decade ago”) with the present (notice the present-tense form). By stating the time of day of this remembrance, the author quite naturally inserts a strong motif found throughout the book; that small phrase—“one afternoon”—conveys an entire scene of light and shadow, and hence the feeling it evokes. Read the line without it and you’ll see.

Let me tell you about the sketch by Leonardo I saw one afternoon in the Queen’s Gallery in London a decade ago, and why I think it still haunts me.

The Shadow Catcher by Marianne Wiggins

Reading the first line in a book is like meeting someone for the first time, or opening a birthday gift. There’s anticipation, a moving forward into something new and unknown. The first line should read like poetry, worded carefully, perfectly. It’s important to make the right first impression. The first line should be a promise to the reader that the book is worth the read.

Here I’ve chosen the first line from another of my favorite books, and favorite authors. It sets a mood, gives us a distinct lyrical voice, and introduces the unique theme: the incongruity of time standing still and time advancing. I think this line is timeless.

The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning.

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

Reading the first line in a book is like meeting someone for the first time, or opening a birthday gift. There’s anticipation, a moving forward into something new and unknown. The first line should read like poetry, worded carefully, perfectly. It’s important to make the right first impression. The first line should be a promise to the reader that the book is worth the read.

To begin this series I’ve chosen the first line from one of my favorite books. It accomplishes so much with so little. It gives you the setting, establishes the mood, introduces the character, and even presents the plot. All with 12 simple words. It is exquisite.

The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone.

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle