Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Opening Sentence of the Day: Incidents in the Rue Laugier

"My mother read a lot, sighed a lot, and went to bed early." -- Incidents in the Rue Laugier by Anita Brookner Hotel du Lac, the 1984 Booker Prize winner, is the only Anita Brookner novel I have read. I can't say that Hotel du Lac stuck with me -- so little so that I actually read it a second time without realizing it -- but Brookner has returned to my radar screen. I recently found several of her books in nice hardback editions at library book sales and something about them appealed to me. I am looking forward to this one.

6 comments :

  1. I've not heard of "Incidents in the Rue Laugier." Is that a new book?

    I meant to answer the questions about the African challenge. I will try to do it today or tonight.:)

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  2. I don't know, Tea. I haven't paid attention to Brookner, so I don't know if this is new or a reprint of an old one. If I like it, I will probably put her on my authors list, with the books in order.

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  3. Defnitely not a new Brookner. I love Brookner and Incidents in the Rue Laugier is one of my favorites of hers. And frankly, the opening line that you quote could sum up many of Brookner's characters.

    I think you will like it more than Hotel du Lac. Which, even as a Brookner fan, is not one of my favorites.

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  4. I love that opening sentence!

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  5. I love the opening sentence also-I have read one Brookner "A Start In Life"-I enjoyed it-sort of a claustrophobic read

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  6. I kind of like this opening as a good philosophy on life. Think about it. It implies that you stay educated, stay calm, and get lots of downtime (too bad it implies a little boredom...). Hmm... I may adopt this as my new catchphrase. Or just crawl back into bed.

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