An Optimistic First Line Friday

Even as someone who's glued to news and current events even during less tumultuous weeks, the recent onslaught of developments has been overwhelming. Yet I'm privileged enough to admit that part of my way of processing the chaos includes taking time—ten minutes here, an hour there—to sink into a good book. And while I've always …

A Late First Line Friday

Well, it's the start of a new year and I am already running behind. Between a sudden snow storm and multiple power outages yesterday, the first First Line Friday of the year slipped away from me. That has to be a good omen for 2021 ... right? In other times, I might have strolled right …

Some Life Lessons for This First Line Friday

I read for a number of reasons, but a big one is that I really enjoy learning something new. When a book can force me to consider something—especially a topic or area that I'm very familiar with—in a new light? That's usually a good reading experience for me. So for this week's First Line Friday, …

A Decked Out First Line Friday

For the first time in my life, I put up my Christmas decorations before the month of December. Yes, it's true, and I can practically hear some of you holiday purists—those who think every holiday should stay in its lane, or at least in its month—scoffing through your screens. And yet, I hadn't even purchased …

A First Line Friday Fit for a Grinch

I'm not feeling the Christmas spirit—a truly frightening admission from a person who practically has seasonal magic oozing from his ears in other years. Normally I'd exude peak cheer, baking gingerbread and trimming trees against a snowy backdrop. But now, among the general chaos? Eat the cookie dough, stuff the tree, and bring on the …

Dropkicking This First Line Friday

Some first lines gently lull you into a story, gradually opening up this new and wonderous setting that you're about to spend a few hundred pages in. For this First Line Friday, I'm highlighting a book that, in its first couple of paragraphs, uses a strong voice to lay out the bones of a strange …

A Totally Nonpolitical First Line Friday

I think most of us can agree that this week has been ... something. In the U.S, with the presidential election finally coming to a close, for the first time since Tuesday, I finally feel like I don't have to refresh my phone every five seconds. So while I'm putting the campaign to the back …

A First Line Friday in a Haunted House

Halloween is mere hours away and my bookshelf is looking empty at the moment—it's downright spooky. Honestly, it's probably from having too many witches, bats, and tombstones on the brain. So with all the goblins and ghouls, ghosts and gravestones hanging around for at least one more day, I thought a solid Halloween-inspired read would …

A First Line Friday for Around the Campfire

The scariest ghost story I've ever heard came from my parents, who told it to me while roasting marshmallows around a bonfire on a fall evening. Their exact words are lost to the years—it's been a while since I was seven—but I remember their soft tones lulling me into this world involving a metal limb, …

It Was a Dark and Stormy First Line Friday

With storms popping up in my local forecast to close out this week, it seems appropriate to pick up a book featuring thunder and lightning during its opening lines. Really, what's better than a spooky nighttime thunderstorm—fictional or otherwise—just in time for Halloween? Add in witches, curses, and a ghost or two and I knew …