Tuesday, November 15, 2011

First Paragraph, Teaser Tuesday -- Two Towns in Provence


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.

Continuing my obsession with France in general and Provence in particular, this week I'm beginning the book Two Towns in Provence by M.F.K. Fisher.
So here is the town, founded more than two thousand years ago by the brash Roman invaders, on much older ruins which still stick up their stones and artifacts. I was as brash a newcomer to it, and yet when I first felt the rhythm of its streets and smelled its ancient smells, and listened at night to the music of its many fountains, I said, "Of course," for I was once more in my own place, an invader of what was already mine.

And this first paragraph feels so right for me. Have you ever felt that way about a place?

Also this week is Teaser Tuesdays.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Here's a teaser from within Two Towns in Provence.
Far above the stone ribs of the hushed room a small eye of open sky in the cupola looks down upon the empty basin that the first Christians found so conveniently ready for their baptismal rights, after decades of Roman ladies had bathed hopefully there to give themselves children. Perhaps, it is said, St. Maximin himself, one of Christ's disciples, stood beside that pool.

5 comments:

Sierra said...

Haven't heard of this one--but I'm definitely looking it up!
Great teaser! :D

Anonymous said...

Two Towns in Provence sounds interesting! Thanks for stopping by my Teaser. :)

Karen Harrington said...

I haven't heard of this one either, but it really does give a sense of place. Thanks for stopping by my blog. :)

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

I would pass on this one. Not sure why but it just didn't grab me.

Linda said...

I've read this one. It's all the rage with food writers and has been for years. I think her writing is lovely but I found her egotistical and I know she wasn't a good mother to the two daughters she writes about when they got older so that colors my views of her.

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