It was the day that my grandmother exploded. I sat in the crematorium, listening to my Uncle Hamish quietly snoring in harmony to Bach’s Mass in B Minor, and I reflected that it always seemed to be death that drew me back to Gallanach.
A dramatic opening that caught my attention when I began reading Iain Bank’s novel The Crow Road. I’ve read on further and so far I’m intrigued and amused by this family saga of the McHoans, that switches about between the generations.
Every Friday Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader where you can share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.
BooksPlease 
This sounds like a book I’d enjoy. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. My Friday post: http://www.bookclublibrarian.com/2014/07/friday-focus-friday-56-book-beginnings_25.html
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That’s like some families. Families come together and share memories when someone dies.
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I’ve seen this author but never read any of his books. I do like the beginning of this one so I’ll definitely have to give him a try. Thanks for sharing!
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That opening definitely grabs your attention! Although it’s also quite crude, in its way! I haven’t read anything by Banks yet, but I do want to! Thanks for sharing 🙂 Hope you have a great weekend!
My Friday post
Juli @ Universe in Words
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Exploding grandma? This opening definitely makes me want to read more.
Here’s the link to my Friday post: REMIX.
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Grandmother exploding? That would be quite traumatic.
It sounds like it should be quite interesting, though. I don’t know this author.
ENJOY!!
Elizabeth
Silver’s Reviews
My Book Beginnings
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She what?! O.O
My BB and 56 🙂
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Margaret – That certainly is an attention-getting beginning! And the premise sounds interesting too. I’ll be really interested in what you think when you’ve finished it.
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This is my favourite Iain Banks, and I’ve read most of them. He died last year – a huge loss to Scottish literature.
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I’ve never read anything by him but that opening makes me think I should do so in the future. What an opening
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