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Lo. Lee. Ta.
Jan. 12th, 2010 02:11 am
Currently at Toronto Pearson: -6. High today: -5.
Jason Epstein was on Charlie Rose tonight. (We got one o' them there digital converter boxes for Christmasish from South Carolina from L.'s parents. Now, not only do I have Charlie Rose back, I have Charlie Rose at the perfect time of 11 p.m., as opposed to the former 1:30 p.m., which used to keep me from heading off to the library until much too late.) He said, at one point, that he could tell whether a book was any good or not by its first paragraph. Its first sentence, even. (And a movie by its opening credits.) So Charlie Rose asked him what was the best first sentence he ever read, and I thought "Lolita! Lolita!" (as you might think I might, come to think of it), and he thought about it for a second or two and said, "Maybe Lolita." Well, maybe, because it's not a sentence, and it's not even a paragraph--it's actually the second paragraph, more than the first, but who's counting "the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth." I remember where I was when I first read it, in a bookstore in Kingston. "But in my arms she was always Lolita." I remember the very shelf. (I remember where I was when I first read the best ending I ever read, in the now-defunct Chapters flagship store on Bloor in Toronto. I remembered the ending for years before I read Invitation to a Beheading.)
Jason Epstein was on Charlie Rose tonight. (We got one o' them there digital converter boxes for Christmasish from South Carolina from L.'s parents. Now, not only do I have Charlie Rose back, I have Charlie Rose at the perfect time of 11 p.m., as opposed to the former 1:30 p.m., which used to keep me from heading off to the library until much too late.) He said, at one point, that he could tell whether a book was any good or not by its first paragraph. Its first sentence, even. (And a movie by its opening credits.) So Charlie Rose asked him what was the best first sentence he ever read, and I thought "Lolita! Lolita!" (as you might think I might, come to think of it), and he thought about it for a second or two and said, "Maybe Lolita." Well, maybe, because it's not a sentence, and it's not even a paragraph--it's actually the second paragraph, more than the first, but who's counting "the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth." I remember where I was when I first read it, in a bookstore in Kingston. "But in my arms she was always Lolita." I remember the very shelf. (I remember where I was when I first read the best ending I ever read, in the now-defunct Chapters flagship store on Bloor in Toronto. I remembered the ending for years before I read Invitation to a Beheading.)
