A Year in First Lines

| Jane @ Stumbling Beyond Eden Rock

The last month of the year is here, and so it’s time to play a particular game:

“Take the first line of each month’s post over the past year and see what it tells you about your blogging year.”

It’s an idea that started with The Indextrious Reader a few years ago, and I remember that that it really is an interesting way to look back at a year.

So here goes …

woodcut-by-kent-ambler

December

Man and Wife by Wilkie Collins (1870)

It is said that Wilkie Collins was at the height of his powers in the 1860s, when he wrote the books generally acknowledged to be his four great novels/

November

THE 100 BOOKS TAG

A few weeks ago I said that I don’t do this thing very often, but here I am doing it again, and planning something else for the not so distant future.

October

DAWN’S LEFT HAND BY DOROTHY RICHARDSON (1931)

The tenth of the thirteen volume series of novels that Dorothy Richardson titled ‘Pilgrimage’ – picks up the story of Miriam Henderson exactly where the ninth ended.

September

THROUGH CONNEMARA IN A GOVERNESS CART BY SOMERVILLE & ROSS (1893)

When work, life, and other things conspire to keep me at home, surrounded by visitors, at the height of the season there is only one thing to do.

August

TO THE BRIGHT EDGE OF THE WORLD BY EOWYN IVEY (2016)

I fell in love with this book; it captured both my head and my heart, completely and utterly.

July

A WOMAN OF LETTERS BY MARCH COST (1959)

I am so glad that I found  March Cost!

June

THE SACRED COMBE BY THOMAS MALONEY (2016)

This was a novel that spoke of many things that I love – in life and in literature.

May

AN A TO Z TO PICK UP THE THREADS ….

A is for A SITE OF HER OWN -ten of Margery Sharp’s novels are back in the world and her publisher – Open Road Media – is showing them off in a lovely little site of her own.

April

I SEE MORE GOLDEN AGE MYSTERIES ….

We seem to be living in a Golden Age for reissues.

March

HONEYCOMB BY DOROTHY RICHARDSON (1917)

Now that I am at the end of the first of the four volumes that collect Dorothy Richardson’s ‘Pilgrimage’ sequence of novels, it seems strange that I had ever feared that the ‘stream of consciousness’ of those thirteen novels would be difficult and that one woman’s consciousness would not be enough to fill all of those pages.

February

THE FIRST A TO Z OF THE YEAR

A is for ANNA HOPE – I thought that ‘Wake ‘ might be a one-off, but I am pleased to report that I have just finished reading her second novel and I loved it.

January

CLUNY BROWN BY MARGERY SHARP (1944)

I have been utterly charmed by Cluny Brown.

And that’s it!

Margery Sharp, Dorothy Richardson and A to Zs seem to dominate my year!

That’s not exactly right, but it’s an interesting snapshot.

Do have a go – it’s a lovely way to look back , and I’d love to see your results.

31 thoughts on “A Year in First Lines”

  3. Well, this was interesting — almost all of my first lines were about an event, of my own or hosted elsewhere, whether coming or in process or just past. Mostly I was introducing the monthly theme for the Reading New England challenge; only two reviews posted at the beginning of the month. Next year will be different without that challenge.

    It’s nice that two favorite authors and the fun A to Z list cropped up for you! Here are my lines just in case you’d really like to see them:

    Jan: Happy New Year, everyone!
    Feb: Welcome to the second month of the Reading New England Challenge!
    Mar: March Magics is here!
    Apr: This April is the twentieth anniversary of National Poetry Month, an appropriate time to explore the poetry and drama of New England.
    May: Thank you to all who joined me in celebrating Elizabeth Goudge’s birthday last Sunday, April 24.
    Jun: What happens when an eminent scholar and biographer turns her hand to fiction? (This was a review of A Man of Genius by Janet Todd)
    July: Lucky Jim came up recently as my Classics Club Spin book, and I was glad, because it’s a book I’ve tried to read a few times without success.
    Aug: As a child, I always welcomed summer because I could finally enjoy lots of uninterrupted reading time — so August seemed to be the perfect month to celebrate books for children and young adults in the Reading New England challenge.
    Sep: Though in its topography it’s the flattest of the New England states, Rhode Island is a place of contrasts.
    Oct: How do you get ready for Witch Week?
    Nov: Witch Week is about celebrating all kinds of fantasy literature, which can evoke many different moods and experiences — but because it takes place in the darkening days following Halloween, our reading choices may tend toward the creepier end of the spectrum.
    Dec: It’s been another wonderful Nonfiction November, and we all have piles of books to read.

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  4. Pingback: A Year in First Lines (2016) – a meme | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

  6. I did it too. But as I have put up two posts today my post with this activity will be up in another day. It was fun looking back at the day. Check out travellinpenguin.com on Monday. Though if I don’t know if that is UK Monday, American Monday or Australia Monday. You might have to wait until Tuesday. 🙂

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