First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #12 and Tuesday Teaser

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph Tuesday Intros is a weekly meme hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea. It's an opportunity to share the first paragraphs of a book I am currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

This week I'm featuring the opening paragraphs of The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin, a book I recently purchased and am currently reading for an upcoming book club meeting. 

Read on after the intro for my Tuesday Teaser.

 

 From Random House Publishing Group 

Publication date: 1/15/2013

 1974

"HE IS FLYING.

Is this how I will remember him?  As I watch him lying vanquished, defeated by the one thing even he could not outmaneuver, I understand that I will have to choose my memories carefully now.  There are simply too many.  Faded newspaper articles, more medals and trophies than I know what to do with; personal letters from presidents, kings, dictators.  Books, movies, plays about him and and his accomplishments; schools and institutions proudly bearing his name.

Tearstained photographs of a child with blond curls, blue eyes, and a deep cleft in his chin.  Smudged copies of letters to other women, tucked away in my purse.

I stir in my seat, trying not to disturb him; I need him to sleep, to restore, because of all the things I have to say to him later, and we're running out of time.  I feel it in my very bones, this ebbing of our tide, and there's nothing I can do about it and I'm no longer content simply to watch it, watch him rush away from me, leaving me alone, not knowing, never knowing.  My hands clenched, my jaw so rigid it aches, I lean forward as if I could will the plane to fly faster."

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?  I am half-way through this historically-researched fictional account of the marriage of Anne Morrow and Charles Lindbergh, and find it to be an engrossing story.  This bestselling novel is beautifully written, and offers an insightful look into the Lindbergh relationship, family life, and major events of their time.

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Teaser Tuesdays, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading, is a weekly event where bloggers open to a random page of their current reads and share a teaser from somewhere on that page--no spoilers allowed.

Here's my teaser from The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin:

"Still the unanswered questions, so many I can't gather them to me in any order, in any list, oh, his damned, disciplined lists!  Now, finally, I have need for one and I can't even pick which question with which to start.  So many demand answers.  Why them?  Why all of them?  Did he love them?  Has he ever loved me?"

~ p.4

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #12 and Tuesday Teaser was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.