Tuesday, May 08, 2012

First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser -- The Red Garden


Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
This morning I'm planning to start The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman. Here's the first paragraph.


The town of Blackwell, Massachusetts, changed its name in 1786. It had been called Bearsville when it was founded in 1750, but it quickly became apparent that a name such as that did little to encourage new settlers. True, there were nearly as many black bears in the woods then as there were pine trees, but there were also more eel in the river than there were ferns sprouting on the banks. You could stick your hand into the murky green shallows and catch half a dozen of the creatures without using bait. If you ventured in waist-high, you'd be surrounded in moments. Yet no one considered calling the village Eelsville, even though people ate eel pie on a regular basis and many of the men in town wore eelskin belts and boots. They said wearing eel made them lucky at cards, but when it came to the rest of life, love for instance, or business acumen, they had no luck at all.

 Also this week is Teaser Tuesdays.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Here's mine from page 53:

It shocked her to see him disappear beneath the ice. Mary made a gasping noise even though she wasn't the one who'd gone under. She felt that her heart had stopped.
I've liked Alice Hoffman before, so I'm sure I'll give this a try. What are you reading?


12 comments:

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

Yes, definitely...and I actually have this book sitting on my stacks. I should move it up!

Here's MY TUESDAY MEMES POST

DCMetroreader said...

I haven't read Alice Hoffman before, but I hear she is terrific. And yes this intro intrigues me.

JoAnn said...

I've only read one book by ALice Hoffman and remember enjoying it very much... would definitely continue with this one.

Faye said...

Jotted down this title. Lately I've been reading a lot of fiction set in the 1700-1800s. But no Alice Hoffman yet. Your teaser looks like a good place to start.

My teaser is a combo reading and travel piece about a murder in Stockholm and the Nobel Prizes. Summit Musings

Unknown said...

I think I would continue reading The Red Garden, probably more because it's Alice Hoffman and I know her books are usually quite good than because this opening interests me.

Scary teasr...I think I would react a lot like Mary does!

Cathy De Los Santos said...

Yeah I would gasp too just the shock of it all. Great teaser. Thanks for stopping by!

Pooch said...

Chills and chills! Quite a gripping teaser!

:)

Nise' said...

I would keep reading. I've read one of her books.

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

I do like Hoffman's writing...keep reading:)

Kate said...

This is going on my TBR list! Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Linda said...

I'm reading a mystery. I'm always reading a mystery, usually English. I'm not sure why.

Unknown said...

I've only read one book by Hoffman but I really want to read more. And I'm also trying to give short stories a try so this sounds like something I should pick up. Great review!

Mica
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