Top Ten Tuesday # 3

 

      Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly event hosted by The Broke and The Bookish, which allows bloggers to share lists of some of our favorite (and not-so favorite) things.  This week we’ll be highlighting the top ten beginnings/endings that we love out of everything we've read.  This is going to take some serious consideration, but I definitely have ten beginnings and endings that I love.  It's just thinking of them all...  So here goes:

 

Beginnings (no particular order of favoritism)

 

1.  I Capture the Castle - "I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.  That is, my feet are in it; the rest of me is on the draining board, which I have padded with our dog's blanket, and the tea-cosy."  How this could not make anyone instantly like Cassandra, the book's narrator and want to read more I have no clue.  One of my favorite books.

 

2.  Tuck Everlasting - "The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning."  This perfectly describes the bittersweet, reflective tone of the rest of the book.

 

3.  The Outsiders - "When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home."  This sentence will haunt me for the rest of my life.  I first read it when I was ten years old and the impact of this book as a whole is massive on me as a person.  The ending line is the same as the first, which shows true vision by bringing the story full circle.  Such a great book.

 

4.  The Blue Castle - "If it had not rained on a certain May morning Valancy Stirling's life would have been entirely different.  She would have gone, with the rest of her clan, to Aunt Wellington's engagement picnic and Dr. Trent would have gone to Montreal.  But it did rain and you shall hear what happened to her because of it."  Aren't you intrigued?  Go read it and you won't be disappointed!  Entirely entertaining, touching and hilarious.

 

5.  Their Eyes Were Watching God - "Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board."  This whole book is a heartbreaking tale of one woman's lost happiness, longing for more in life and unconquerable spirit.  It will leave you in a quivering ball of tears at the end and this first line definitely foreshadows that!

 

 

Endings (no particular order of favoritism) 

 

1.  The Virgin Suicides - "It didn't matter in the end how old they had been, or that they were girls, but only that we had loved them, and that they hadn't heard us calling, still do not hear us, up here in the tree house, with our thinning hair and soft bellies, calling them out of those rooms where they went to be alone for all time, alone in suicide, which is deeper than death, and where we will never find the pieces to put them back together."  This encapsulates the empty ache the reader feels at the end of the book.

2.  The Giver - "For the first time, he heard something that he knew to be music.  He heard people singing.  Behind him, across the vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left,  he thought he heard music too.  But perhaps it was only an echo."  You can't help but feel that joy right along with Jonas, when he finally makes it out.  The ending of this book is just so hopeful that when you close it, everything seems to be looking up.

 

3.  The Great Gatsby - "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."  I'm probably not the only one quoting this for my list, but it's definitely one that sticks with you.  Especially since the whole novel is basically an exercise in self-destruction, by people who can't forget the past.

4.  Anne of the Island - "I don't want diamond sunbursts or marbles halls.  I just want you."  Not quite the LAST line in the book, but it's close enough.  And that is such a great depiction of true love in action.  Also, it makes me swoon! :)

 

5.  The Soldiers of Halla - "And so we go.'  It's my way of saying that I'm prepared for the next adventure.  The next chapter.  The next challenge.  Whatever comes my way, I'm ready for it.  Because that is truly the way it was meant to be....."  Through all the ups and downs of the series, all the characters face fear and death headlong, diving straight into their many adventures.  'And so we go,' is a phrase that defines the whole Pendragon series.

 

    

     What about all of you guys?  What are your favorite ten beginnings/endings in books?  I can't wait to read all your lists and discover some things to share thrills about!  Happy Tuesday y'all and it was great hangin' out with you! :)