Friday 56 and Book Beginnings -- Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie & The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker

Hosted by Katy.

How to participate: Share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments. Include the title and the author so we know what you're reading. Then, if you feel so moved, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line, and let us know if you liked or did not like the sentence.

"It was dusk when he came to the ferry. 

He could have been there much earlier."

~from Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie

This beginning definitely caught my attention -- I wanted to know what he was putting off and why. The speaker is Dr. Arthur Calgary, just returned from two years in Antarctica.  An old newspaper article brought the realization that his amnesia directly before leaving for his expedition has put an innocent man in jail.  In his desire to "make things" right, he is traveling on the ferry to share the news that he assumes (incorrectly) will be a relief to the convicted man's family.  An interesting premise a bit out of the norm for Christie.  Enjoyable.






Hosted by Freda.
Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Link it here.

Anyone familiar with Yiddish knows a better example, the ultimate riposte to someone reasoning from improbable premises:  Az di bobe volt gehat beytsim volt zi geven mayn zeyde, "If my grandmother had balls , she'd be my grandfather."

~The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker