Thursday, November 5, 2015

Book Beginning: Honey in the Horn



THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I try to follow all Book  Beginnings participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

TIE IN: The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING



There was a run-down old tollbridge station in the Shoestring Valley of Southern Oregon where Uncle Preston Shiveley had lived for fifty years, outlasting a wife, two sons, several plagues of grasshoppers, wheat-rust and caterpillars, a couple or three invasions of land-hunting settlers and real-estate speculators, and everybody else except the scattering of old pioneers who had cockleburred themselves onto the country at about the same time he did.

-- Honey in the Horn by H. L. Davis. I'm a sucker for shaggy opening sentences like this that set the stage and give a whole backstory in one go.

Honey in the Horn, Davis's 1936 Pulitzer Prize winner, is a classic coming of age novel set in Oregon in the early 1900s. This reprint edition from OSU Press features a new introduction by Richard W. Etulain.

15 comments:

  1. A great start. Sounds like a great family saga.

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  2. As you say the whole story in one opening paragraph. Nice.

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  3. Great opening lines! Very tempting....

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  5. That's quite an opening. Very tempting... :)

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  6. Hi Gilion,

    What a totally immersive opening paragraph, really well considered words, designed to pull the reader in right from the very beginning.

    From time to time I enjoy reading fiction, both UK and Internationally centric, which has a real sense of social history as a pivotal element of the storyline and this one seems to tick all the boxes :)

    Thanks for sharing and hosting :)

    Yvonne.

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  7. I agree with you about the opening sentence sucking you in.
    My Friday Quotes,

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  8. Oh....I love the cover, and this sounds like a book I would truly enjoy.

    Thanks for sharing, and have a wonderful weekend.

    Elizabeth
    Silver's Reviews
    My Book Beginnings

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  9. I love the language in the opening sentence. "Cockleburred themselves" makes me smile.
    Thank you for hosting Book Beginnings every week.

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  10. Heheheh. Cockleburred. I want to read it just for that!

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  11. Hi Gillion,
    Sounds like an awesome book, I'll have to check it out. Have a great day!

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  12. I got this from the library some time ago, but didn't get it read. Now that you've reminded me, I'll have to get the book again.

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  13. I love book beginnings like this one, too :)

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  14. I like the beginning of this. I'm imagining a wide open range. :)
    @dino0726 from 
    FictionZeal - Impartial, Straightforward Fiction Book Reviews

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  15. Such a descriptive beginning! I think I'd never have thought to use "cockleburred" in that way!

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