Friday, October 22, 2010

Opening Sentence of the Day: Let the Great World Spin



"Those who saw him hushed."

-- Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann.

This won the National Book Award last year. I am reading it as my National winner pick for the Battle of the Prizes, American Version challenge.

I had originally picked Them by Joyce Carol Oates as my National choice, and Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler for my Pulitzer winner, but I decided to switch. I just read Olive Kitteridge for my Pulitzer winner and decided to stick with the short-stories-as-novel idea with my National pick. They tie in with The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter for my double dipper choice.

Now I am finally making progress on my own challenge. It's about time.