Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
This week, I finally got my hands on State of Wonder by Ann Patchett.
Dr. Marina Singh is sent to Brazil to track down a colleague and former mentor who has been working on a new, amazing drug for a pharmaceutical company. I'm struck by how similar the premise is to the book Hector and the Secrets of Love which I reviewed here. Hector was sent by a drug company to find an older, respected researcher who had gone missing too. But I get the impression these books are going in very different directions.Here's the first paragraph:
The news of Anders Eckman's death came by way of Aerogram, a piece of bright blue airmail paper that served as both the staionery and, when folded over and sealed along the edges, the envelope. Who even knew they still made such things? This single sheet had traveled from Brazil to Minnesota to mark the passing of a man, a breath of tissue so insubstantial that only the stamp seemed to anchor it to this world. Mr. Fox had the letter in his hand when he came to the lab to tell Marina the news. When she saw him there at the door she smiled at him and in the light of that smile he faltered.
So many times I am put off by the writing in the first paragraph. This one definitely has me hooked.
What about you? Would you keep reading?
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