First Chapter ~ First Paragraph (October 2)

Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, from Tuesday/First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Vicky from I’d Rather Be At The Beach who posts the opening paragraph (sometime two) of a book she decided to read based on the opening. Feel free to grab the banner and play along.

This week my opening paragraph comes from one of my Classic Club reads, Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan which I plan to read at some point in October, after all something that managed to scandalise the French must be worth investigating, mustn’t it?

Blurb

The French Riviera: home to the Beautiful People. And none are more beautiful than Cécile, a precocious seventeen-year-old, and her father Raymond, a vivacious libertine. Charming, decadent and irresponsible, the golden-skinned duo are dedicated to a life of free love, fast cars and hedonistic pleasures. But then, one long, hot summer Raymond decides to marry, and Cécile and her lover Cyril feel compelled to take a hand in his amours, with tragic consequences.

Bonjour Tristesse scandalized 1950s France with its portrayal of teenager terrible Cécile, a heroine who rejects conventional notions of love, marriage and responsibility to choose her own sexual freedom. Amazon

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First Chapter ~ First Paragraph ~ Intro

1

This strange new feeling of mine, obsessing me by its sweet languor, is such that I am reluctant to dignify it with the grave and beautiful name of sadness. In the past the idea of sadness always appealed to me, now I am almost ashamed of its complete egoism. I had known boredom, regret and at times remorse, but never sadness. Today something envelopes me like a silken web, enervating and soft, which isolates me.

That summer I was seventeen and perfectly happy.

Well what do you think? Would you keep reading?