Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Favorite Beginnings and Endings In Books

We picked beginnings (we thought we may spoil a book if we picked endings!)

Sheri's Picks:

Cristin Terrill.  All Our Yesterdays.  2013.  “I stare at the drain in the center of the concrete floor.  It was the first thing I saw when they locked me in the this cell, and I’ve barely looked away since.”

Kelley Armstrong. The Summoning.  2008.  “Mommy forgot to warn the new babysitter about the basement.”

Jane Austen.  Emma.  1815.  “Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence, and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.”

J.K. Rowling.  Harry Potter and the Sorcer’s Stone.  1997. “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.  They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense."

J.K. Rowling.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. 2007.  “The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years.  All was well.”
 

Pam's Picks:

I picked beginnings that really hooked me right away.

Tehereh Mafi.  Shatter Me.  2011.  "I've been locked up for 264 days.  I have nothing but a small notebook and a broken pen and the numbers in my head to keep me company.  1 window. 4 walls. 144 square feet of space. 26 letters in the alphabet. I haven't spoken in 264 days of isolation. 6,336 hours since I've touched another human being."

Michelle Hodkin.  The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer.  2011.  "My name is not Mara Dyer, but my lawyer told me I had to choose something.  A pseudonym.  A nom de plume, for all of us studying for the SATs.  I know that having a fake name is strange, but trust me--it's the most normal thing about my life right now.  Even telling you this much probably isn't smart.  But without my big mouth, no one would know that a seventeen-year-old who likes Death Cab for Cutie was responsible for the murders.  No one would know that somewhere out there is a B student with a body count.  And it's important that you know, so you're not next.  Rachel's birthday was the beginning.  This is what I remember."

Kate Karyus Quinn.  Another Little Piece. 2013.  

"The field didn't end so much as trail off, beaten back by the rusted-out trailer and circle of junked vehicles surrounding it.  As if they had forgotten how to be still, the girl's bare and bloodied feet tripped and stumbled over each other.  Slowly, slowly, the momentum that had brought her through the night and into the cold gray dawn leeched away.  She tugged at the garbage bag she's refashioned as a poncho.  It was worse than useless at keeping her dry, but its constant crinkle had been a steady companion, and now that she'd reached her destination it seemed wrong to let it be lost to the wind.

Standing still, she studied the No Trespassing sign spray-painted on a weather chunk of plywood, waiting for something to happen.  Certain that something would.  She didn't know where she was, or even her own name, but she felt sure of this."

Sarah J. Maas.  Throne of Glass.  2012.  "After a year of slavery in the Salt Mines of Endovier, Celaena Sardothien was accustomed to being escorted everywhere in shackles and at sword-point.  Most of the thousands of slaves in Endovier received similar treatment--though an extra half-dozen guards always walked Calaena to and from the mines.  That was expected by Adarlan's most notorious assassin.  What she did not usually expect, however, was a hooded man in black at her side--as there was now."

Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas.  From What I Remember...  2012. "I am jolted awake by sunlight flooding the room.  What time is it?  Where am I?  Disoriented, I attempt to open my eyes.  The light is stabbing.  My head is throbbing, my throat is raw, and my stomach is roiling.  Is this what a hangover feels like?  I wouldn't know.  I've never had one.  Until now.  I close my eyes, take a few deep breaths, and lie still, trying to get my bearings. Last night was one of the greatest nights of my life.  I think.  But then again, it could have turned into one of the worst.  I don't remember much past a certain point....I turn my head to avert my eyes, and that's when I see him.  The gorgeous, half-naked boy lying next to me.  Asleep.  Oh. My. God. Max."

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.