And usually I will know from the very first sentence, or at least the first paragraph, whether or not this book is a kindred spirit. Now, yes, there are exceptions to this rule; quite a few exceptions, to be truthful. But there is nothing better than reading the beginning lines of a book and knowing, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that here is a book with which to connect, benefit from, grow by, and thoroughly enjoy.
Here are some of my favorite opening lines:
"In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the earth." -Genesis
That right there is the foundation of everything we believe. In one sentence. How awesome is that?
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"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a large fortune must be in want of a wife." -Pride and Prejudice
It's just so chock full of wit and reality and romance, and it sets the stage for Pride and Prejudice so perfectly.
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"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole and that means comfort." -The Hobbit
I can't explain why, but when I read this paragraph for the very first time, I felt a Tingling at the tips of my fingertips, and I knew I was going to like The Hobbit. Tolkien's writing style, of which I am very fond, shows itself in those two sentences, and the concise portrayal of this hobbit-creature, (you can certainly understand him immediately if you are the Right Sort of Person,) simply by describing his dwelling in a few short words delighted me. Besides, this hobbit was obviously neat, and being a slightly ocd person myself, I have a great bond with those who care about the appearances of their kitchens after breakfast and sweep their doorsteps with regularity.
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"Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it. And then he feels that perhaps there isn't." -Winnie-the-Pooh
To me, this speaks of childhood and playtime and stuffed animals and the funny, crazy thoughts which unexplainably inhabit our wee heads When We Are Very Young.
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"It was a warm, golden-cloudy, lovable afternoon." -Rilla of Ingleside
I have known many such days; only I have not had the talent to wrap them up into a beautiful little word package as did Lucy Maud Montgomery.
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"In the early evening, when the hills in the distance showed faint and blue, in a patch of rough ground called Field of the Darling-Pool, a little girl stood alone. She was barely ten, but for what seemed to her a long time she had been asking questions which no one could answer, not even her wise old father to whom she shyly brought them. -Ploughed Under
Thus begins the story about a little lover of the greatest Lover the world has ever known. And this little lover's story is much like mine and so many others who seek and seek for answers to life's troubling questions: 'How shall we live?' 'When shall we die?' 'What comes after death?' 'Who is in control?' 'Who is this God of Whom I have heard?' -and who find the ultimate answer to be Christ Jesus.
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"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." -The Gospel of John
This sentence, like the first sentence of Genesis, is the foundation of what we believe. Christ is our foundation... He was the beginning, He is the present, and He will be the end.
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Yes, these books are very, very different, but as Lyman Abbott - whoever that is! - said, "A broad interest in books usually means a broad interest in life."
I sure hope so.
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"It was God's purpose from the beginning, not merely to redeem for Himself a people out of a world of sinners, but to bring that people into a peculiar relationship to Himself. It was His purpose to draw them nearer to Himself than any other order of His creatures, and to establish a link of the closest and most peculiar kind between them and the Godhead."
the thoughts of redemption, of being drawn closer to God than even the heavenly host...these thoughts pull at my mind and my heart as I read the opening to Horatius Bonar's classic little volume, Night of Weeping. Since I am of the age and brain that I only think of what is fairly current in my mind, here is my offering. And I will venture a comment on L.Abbott's 'broad interest in books usually means a broad interest in life' Just what is 'life' defined? certainly different things to different people but we have it from the only pure,true, always-to-be-trusted Authority: God's Word. Jesus says, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life", "I am come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" and a host of other wonderfully clear and sweetly dear assurances of just what real life is... Books are important, our views on them are important too. May we always be careful in our reading choices.
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