Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Opening Sentence of the Day: The Tricking of Freya



"You want a bit of Birdie?"

-- The Tricking of Freya by Christina Sunley

Odd first sentence. But it quickly becomes clear that the narrator is talking about her aunt, nicknamed "Birdie," and is about to tell a story about her.

In fact, the first couple of pages are odd, until you realize that the narrator is writing a letter to an unknown cousin, Birdie's child. Once things fall into place, the book takes off and is incredibly good.

I am reading this because I got it from LibraryThing and am diligently working through my Early Reviewer list so I can get back in LibraryThing's good graces. But it totally sucked me in. It is a complicated story, well told, and is all about Iceland and Icelandic immigrants -- a topic I know nothing about. It is really interesting and entertaining.

4 comments:

  1. Good to hear you are liking this book...I have this one from LT as well...along with 5 others I have yet to review (whoops!!). They keep sending me their little reminders. I managed to get one reviewed last month and it seems they have forgiven my lapses because I just got an email that I snagged a book in November. Now I REALLY feel guilty!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is really good. I wish I had read it earlier. I am thinking of getting copies for Christmas presents. Enjoy it!

    Counting this one, I also have FIVE still to review for LT, just like you. But I also got one in the November batch, maybe because I got a couple reviewed and off my To Do list.

    ReplyDelete
  3. *nods* I think if you do a review or two, they figure you are still making an effort :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Maybe it's because I just finished "Iceland's Bell", but the Icelandic immigrants part sounds kind of interesting. And apparently good, so what more is there to say? If I'm in the mood, I might look this up.

    ReplyDelete