pagesofjulia

Thanks to Rose City Reader for hosting this meme. To participate, share the first line or two of the book you are currently reading and, if you feel so moved, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line.

On the opening page, we get these lines.

Confession

You’ve been a menace and a muse. A beacon and a roadblock. My jailer and my travel agent.

Kurzweil writes to his childhood bully here, who the whole book is about. And this gets to the heart of his need to research and write it – that first line, in fact, does it alone: “you’ve been a menace and a muse.” A fine beginning, I think, because it says so much so briefly. It is still worth reading the whole story, though, I assure you.

This quotation comes from an uncorrected advance proof and is subject to change.

Filed under: book beginnings | Tagged: memoir, nonfiction |