My Five Best Books

While I don’t really have the time to do a blog post a day for August, this one really caught my eye on The Anne Boleyn Files: the opening lines from each of your five favourite books. Hard, but here it is. Have you read any of them? What did you think?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling:-

“The two men appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart in the narrow, moonlit lane. For a second they stood quite still, wands directed at each other’s chests; then, recognising each other, they stowed their wands beneath their cloaks and started walking briskly in the same direction.

‘News?’ asked the taller of the two.

‘The best,’ replied Severus Snape.”

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory:-

“I could hear a roll of muffled drums. But I could see nothing but the lacing on the bodice of the lady standing in front of me, blocking my view of the scaffold. I had been at this court for more than a year and attended hundreds of festivities; but never before one like this.

By stepping to one side a little and craning my neck, I could see the condemned man, accompanied by his priest, walk slowly from the Tower towards the green where the wooden platform was waiting.”

Devil’s Bride by Stephanie Laurens:-

“’The duchess is so very … very … well, really, most charming. So …’ With an angelic smile, Mr. Postlewaite, the vicar of Somersham, gestured airily, ‘Continental, if you take my meaning.’

Standing by the vicarage gate while she waited for the gig to be brought around, Honoria Wetherby only wished she could. Wringing information from the local vicar was always one of her first actions on taking up a new position; unfortunately, while her need for information was more acute than usual, Mr. Postlewaite’s comments were unhelpfully vague.”

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks:-

“The Boulevard du Cange was a broad, quiet street that marked the eastern flank of the city of Amiens. The wagons that rolled in from Lille and Arras to the north made directly into the tanneries and mills of the Saint-Leu quarter without needing to use this rutted, leafy road. The town side of the boulevard backed on to substantial gardens which were squared off and apportioned with civic precision to the houses they adjoined. On the damp grass were chestnut trees, lilac and willows, cultivated to give shade and quietness to their owners.”

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky:-

“Dear friend,

I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand and didn’t try to sleep with that person at that party even though you could have. Please don’t try to figure out who she is because then you might figure out who I am, and I really don’t want you to do that. I will call people by different names or generic names because I don’t want you to find me. I didn’t enclose a return address for the same reason. I mean nothing bad by this. Honest.”