Day: April 20, 2008

Famous First Lines

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I’ve posted the answers to Who Am I if you want to check them out.

Here’s how to play…Identify the first lines of these famous novels by telling me what book it’s from.  Leave a comment with the # of the first line and the title of the book and I’ll cross it off the list.  No Googling, that’s cheating and no fun!  If you know them all, please don’t guess every one, maybe five max?

1. It was a pleasure to burn. Jason, Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury

2. Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. Janet, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

3. It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York. The Bell Jar by Plath

4. I am an invisible man. Jason, Invisible Man by Ellison

5. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. Carol, Pride & Prejudice by Austen

6. What can you say about a 25 year old girl who died? Love Story by Segal

7. Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. Mark, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by Lewis

8. If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. Mark, The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger

9. As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. Mark, The Metamorphosis by Kafka

10. You better not never tell nobody but God. The Color Purple by Walker

Hold Tight, by Harlan Coben

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Cover ImageFinished 4-19-08, rating 4/5, fiction, pub. 2008

“In the end we’re just their caretakers, Mike.  We get them for a little while and then they live their lives.  I just want him to stay alive and healthy until we let him go.  The rest will be up to him.”  Hold Tight, Chapter 2

I mentioned in an earlier post that Jason and I went to a book signing by Coben in Houston a few years ago.  He was charming and smart and just goofy enough to make him interesting.  I was already a fan, but it was nice to know that I liked the guy whose career I was supporting.  I’ve read all of his books and have liked them all, some more than others.  I generally prefer his novels written in the first person because so few authors really do it well.  This wasn’t in first person, but it was fun and I finished it in one day so that must mean I liked it!

This is a book about parents – the love, the fears, and the lengths they’ll go to to protect their kids.  The Bayes fear that they are losing their teenage son, Adam, so they install a spyware program on his computer to keep tabs on him.  The decision was a hard one for them and one that plays out to reveal the real dilemma parents face today.  The Bayes are not the only parents with problems.  Their next-door neighbors need to find a kidney donor for their son.  Their daughter’s best friend was ridiculed by a teacher, school has become unbearable, and her father wants to move to protect her.  The Hills have just lost a son to suicide and the father needs to move on while the mother needs to know why.  The police chief has a stoner son and is willing to lie and intimidate to protect him. 

Amazingly all of these stories come together in a fast-paced thriller that will leave you hoping for the best until the end.  This is a terrific book, especially if you have a teen in the house.  It wasn’t just about the technology, but also many of the pressures kids face today like drugs and bullying.  Coben manages to hit on current issues while keeping the story compelling and the action swift. 

This is just the lastest installment in Coben’s bestselling library.  Enjoy!