Discussion: Hooked Right from the Start

[neonpossibilities]

I just started a book I had in my reading list for a while and this is the very first paragraph:

The monk heard that a ship had arrived carrying one of the dog-headed people whom travelers speak of when they tell tall tales of the one-eyed and the winged, and he went out to the docks to see if it was true. This is how he first laid eyes on the relic thief; this is how the voyage to steal the corpse of Saint Nicholas began.

The book is "Nicked" by M. T. Anderson and I was immediately sucked into the story!

Did you ever read a book that grabbed your interest right from the first few lines/chapter? Or, on the other hand, were there any books you found boring and uninteresting at the beginning that revealed their potential later on?

Comments

[matsushima]

I'm not one of those people who feels like I have to finish every book I start, so if a book doesn't catch my fancy pretty quick, I'll probably drop it…

… but the opening line that sticks in my head - literal decades since the last time I read it - is from Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick: I never had a brain until Freak came along and let me borrow his for awhile, and that's the truth, the whole truth. The unvanquished truth, is how Freak would say it… (I looked it up to confirm the punctuation and I remembered it word for word, all of these years later.)

The book I initially struggled to get into but absolutely adored is The Golden Compass because I was 12 or so and confused and impatient for the narrator to explain what a dæmon is. I'm glad I stuck it out!

[neonpossibilities]

I used to be, then I realized life is too boring (and my TBR is too long) to read books I don't like ;3

Oh, that is a great opening, no wonder it stuck with you! :D

I loved His Dark Materials, although I first read it many moons ago so I can't remember if I was immediately into it or if it was more of a slow burn. What I do remember was me closing the last book and staring into space for quite some time, thinking some part of me had been rewritten entirely. I was a very dramatic teenager, can you tell? xD