Every Tuesday Diane from Bibliophile By the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where participants share the first paragraph (or a few) of a book they are reading or thinking about reading soon. Today's selection is from Embers Sandor Marai's beautiful and elegiac novel I am rereading for our First Sunday book group.
"In the morning, the old general spent a considerable time in the wine cellars with his winegrower inspecting two casks of wine that had begun to ferment. He had gone there at first light, and it was past eleven o'clock before he had finished drawing off the wine and returned home. Between the columns of the veranda, which exuded a musty smell from its damp flagstones, his gamekeeper was standing waiting for him, holding a letter."
14 comments:
This sounds good to me...
Here is my post
Thanks for your comment. The opening provides a glimpse of the aura that exudes from every page of this novel.
The opening has me curious enough to want to know more. I like the attention to detail.
Thanks for your observation. The detail is very important in Marai's novel.
sounds enchanting. kelley—the road goes ever ever on
Kelley,
Thanks. Enchanting is a good word to use in describing this dramatic novel.
Very atmospheric - wine cellars, musty smells, columns on the veranda, plus the intrigue of a letter. I already want more! Hope you are enjoying this novel.
JoAnn,
Thanks for your recognition of some important markers. The letter begins the suspense.
I like that James, hope the rest is good as well ---enjoy and thanks for joining us.
That first paragraph drew me right in. I'd like to see that vineyard and also know what's in the letter.
This is my first time visiting your blog. I especially like your Marcel Proust quote.
Diane,
Thanks for the encouragement.
Margot,
Glad you like the Proust quote - great writers are great readers.
Nice beginning. perhaps it is my automatic interest when I hear about the crafting of food or beverages but this grabs me.
It is a mesmerizing novel about two friends with a past that is slowly unveiled as they meet with each other for the first time in more than four decades. Highly recommended.
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