I came away with five books. Here are the first sentences of each:

My mother was an actress.

—Third Girl from the Left, Martha Southgate

She ached.

—Torch, Cheryl Strayed

The light that illuminates the world begins in Los Angeles.

—The Diviners, Rick Moody

A Parisian hotel room.

—Memoirs of a Muse, Lara Vapnyar

SWF, above average on a really good day, on a bad day still fairly cute but you might want to mention that her hair doesn’t look too big before she has to ask, frequently compared to a certain movie star (who shall remain nameless, a) in case you don’t think she resembles the star, b) in case you don’t find the star especially beautiful, and also c) because every time someone says they look like someone in a personal ad it’s more like those separated-at-birth things where the allegedly more attractive person suddenly looks distorted and creepy, like Winona Ryder looks eerily like Vincent Price and you can never really see her again in the same way… [and this first sentence continues on for what appears to be pages and there is no way I’m typing it in.]

—All This Heavenly Glory, Elizabeth Crane

I’m starting with the hotel room in Paris simply because it’s due back to the library first.