"This book had its beginnings in January 1993, although I did not realize it at the time."
-- The Quotable Ronald Reagan by Peter Hannaford (Ed.)
Not a gripping opening sentence. I wonder if I should consider the first sentence of the actual book, or the first sentence of introductions. If someone else wrote an introduction for a book, that's easy -- do not count that as the opening sentence. But if the author wrote an introduction contemporaneously with the book (not added in a later edition), then I think that counts for the opening sentence. Which means that some, like this one, are not going to be real sizzlers.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Opening Sentence of the Day: The Quotable Ronald Reagan
"This book had its beginnings in January 1993, although I did not realize it at the time."
-- The Quotable Ronald Reagan by Peter Hannaford (Ed.)
Not a gripping opening sentence. I wonder if I should consider the first sentence of the actual book, or the first sentence of introductions. If someone else wrote an introduction for a book, that's easy -- do not count that as the opening sentence. But if the author wrote an introduction contemporaneously with the book (not added in a later edition), then I think that counts for the opening sentence. Which means that some, like this one, are not going to be real sizzlers.
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Sounds like maybe the contrast with the writing in Water the Bamboo is not helping!
ReplyDeleteExactly! Luckily, once I got through the needless introduction, I found that the rest of the book is just quotations.
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