judging books based on ONLY the opening line #3
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I think a fun main channel video would be ranking 10 books 3 different ways to see how they compare. Like rank the covers first, rank the first lines next, and then rank the books once you’re done with them
good idea!
Yay I’m so happy you did this again!! I love this concept, it would be interesting if you did the first paragraph, too. And if you’re feeling crazy…the LAST LINE?!
Something tells me this is how you get most of the spoilers 😂
Omg yesss
OMG THE LAST LINE IS SUCH A GOOD IDEA
@@jack_in_the_books 👀 can’t wait to hopefully see it in the future!
I have this thing, whenever I want to read a new book I have to go to the last page and read the last word before I can start the book. It's become a habit 😅
after you have read all the books featured in this or one of the previous episodes, you should do a sequel ranking the books overall and compare the list to the first impression ranks
Ditto!
the nerve of this man to read out that gorgeous opening line from Atalanta, knowing full well that we can’t read it until May 😭😭
Babel fully lives up to its opening line imho. Hope you enjoy all of these!
omg i hope i'm allowed to read out the first line LMAO
@@jack_in_the_books i mean, they sent it to you for promotion and i’m definitely gonna buy it now, so you’ve done your job lol
"Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm." The best opening line ever.
Which one?
Gone With the Wind.
My favorite opening line is from Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book "There was a hand in the darkness, it held a knife"
0:45 Three Rooms - Jo Hamya
1:33 Maps of our Spectacular Bodies - Maddie Mortimer
2:26 Atlanta - Jennifer Saint
3:31 Mouth to Mouth - Antoine Wilson
5:35 A Certain Hunger - Chelsea G. Summers
6:40 Babel - R.F. Kuang
8:17 The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida - Shehan Karunatilaka
9:22 I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness - Claire Vaye Watkins
10:48 Olga Dies Dreaming - Xochitl Gonzalez
12:07 Young Mungo - Douglas Stuart
Ineresting choices!
My list is:
Babel
Atalanta
Olga Dies Dreaming
I love you but I choose darkness
Three Rooms
Map of our spectacular bodies
The seven moons oof Maali Almeida
Young Mungo
A certain Huger
Mouth to mouth
Yay, I loved Olga Die Dreaming. The opening chapter about napkins is iconic.
My order just based on these opening lines! (I haven’t read any of these books… yet! Lol)
A certain hunger
Olga dies dreaming
Atlanta
I love you but I’ve chosen darkness
Bable
Mouth to mouth
Maps of our spectacular bodies
Seven moons of maali almeda
Three rooms
Young mungo
Thinking about it, knowing the plot of Babel, it’s actually pretty fitting that it gets silver. I continue to love this concept and would watch another addition.
This is the order my pint of ice cream and I have decided on:
(1.) Babel (Iconic Behaviour)
(2.) The Seven Moons Of Maali Almeida (I want to know more! What is the question? Why everyone asking it? Why does the answer seemingly not matter?)
(3.) Olga Dies Dreaming (I am so irritated, in the best way. What is even happening here?)
(4.) A Certain Hunger (showing my bias here bc I work at a bar, but I can comfirm that description is 100% accurate)
(5.) Atlanta ("unwanted scrap of humanity" go off girl)
(6.) Mouth To Mouth (the ultimate true neutral. It's giving me "Gregor Samsa woke up to find that he was a cockroach" - has critics salivating but just makes me want to scream IT'S NOT THAT DEEP BRO)
(7.) I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness (completely forgot how it started by the time it ended. too many characters, I am Confusion)
(8.) Three Rooms (mostly boring, but the moving in and out is kinda interesting)
(9.) Young Mungo (objectively pretty decent, but I'm sorry, I just do not care)
(10.) Maps Of Our Spectacular Bodies (Made my brain hurt, I am too stupid to understand what that even means)
Altogether pretty similar listings, with the exception of Young Mungo
(Also I have not read any of these books so this is purely based on the opening lines)
When I was younger, I had this habit of reading the last line of every book before I started reading it. It sounds weird and sure I came across some spoilers every now and then but I think it’s also something that would make a great video. I dunno maybe I’m just weird but someone else said it too, I think, and it might be cool.
I still do this when I read. I thought I was the only one who had this interesting habit
omg i used to do the same!
so funny! i read the last chapter!!
I used to do that too!!
I always read the last page first still lol
Speed dating but make it books. Love it 😂❤
My favorite book opening is from Leo Tolstoy “Resurrection”.
“Though hundreds of thousands had done their very best to disfigure the small piece of land on which they were crowded together, by paying the ground with stones, scrap- ing away every vestige of vegetation, cutting down the trees, turning away birds and beasts, and filling the air with the smoke of naphtha and coal, still spring was spring, even in the town.” ❤💔
Of course, it sounds much better in Russian language. But it has so much meaning even now. Even though people are constantly destroying the planet, seasons are still changing, no matter what.
This is absolutely beautiful. Makes me want to read it next!
I forgot that was how Young Mungo opened. Knowing what happened, it’s really, really good. On so many levels. And saying that his mother convinces herself that everything is going to be ok.. heartbreaking.
Perhaps you could revisit these once you have read the books?
I love these types of videos, cause I’m the type of person who will flick open books in the store and buy them just based on the first paragraph!
The last really good opening line I read was “I arrived in Berlin at the beginning of February, before the shame and guilt brewing somewhere low in my stomach turned symptomatic” from ‘Berlin’ by Bea Setton. It’s just the perfect intro for what the book turns out to be (great book btw, kinda Sally Rooney-esque)
A certain hunger was in my top 3 last year, and my average rating was barely above a 2.3 on goodreads. You're in for a beautifully crafted piece of literature.
Same here, I absolutely loved this book. I feel like people are drawn in by its premise but its the character perspective thats the most interesting and disturbing thing about the book.
We have very different tastes ahahah! I find that what I look for in first lines are often short and sharp statements that leave a lot of gaps such as Great Gatsby's "In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since" or even Moby-Dick's "Call me Ismael". The less said in the first line the better for me.
The Seven Moons of Maali
Babel (although didn't enjoy the book as a whole …)
Atlanta
Young Mungo
A Certain Hunger
Three Rooms
Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies
Mouth to Mouth
Olga Dies Dreaming
I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness (long lines are automatically a turn off for me)
You should make a second part once you've read them all where you decide if you want to reorder them or not based on the whole book.
1. Atalanta
2. Babel
3. The Seven Moons
4. Young Mungo
5. Mouth to Mouth
6. A Certain Hunger
7. Maps of our Spectacular Bodies
8. Olga Dies Dreaming
9. I Love you but Ive Chosen Darkness
10. Three Rooms
I played along and this is my ranking. Just sharing for the sake of it, but yer. Love your videos by the way. :)
my rating:
Certain Hunger
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeira
Young Mungo
I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness
Atlanta
Babel
Maps of our Spectacular Bodies
Three Rooms
Olga Dies Dreaming
Mouth to Mouth
thanks for the video jack!! love this format 💗
Absolutely love Douglas Stuart books, I've recently read Shuggie Bain and it was a 5 star read for me. It's currently being borrowed by several family members. I'm sure they'll enjoy it.
If you read this Hi, almost my every tbr is from you. I really love your review it is almost as same as mine after reading that book
I recently finished reading The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. The book is chef's kiss.
I was playing this as background sound, and when I turn too see the end "podium" got so surprised and exited to see a Mexican name ❤So Glad our latin culture is growing into literature. BTW, just so you don't struggle with the pronunciation later , Xochitl González is pronounced "So Chill - Gun Sah Less" 😄
here's my rating :D
1. babel
2. a certain hunger
3. atlanta
4. olga dies dreaming
5. the seven moons of maali almeida
6. young mungo
7. maps of our spectacular bodies
8. mouth to mouth
9. three rooms
10. i love you but ive chosen darkness
One of my favourite books of all time also has one of the best opening lines I think: "the terror, which would not end for another twenty-eight years - if it ever did end - began, so far as I know or can tell, with a boat made from a sheet of newspaper floating down a gutter swollen with rain." It, Stephen King
Heres my order :)
1.Babel
2.Olga Dies Dreaming
3.The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
4.Three Rooms
5.A Certain Hunger
6.Mouth to Mouth
7.Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies
8.Atlanta
9.Young Mungo
10.I love you but I've Chosen Darkness
I have two kinds of openings that usually grip me so much that they whirlpool me into the story.
The first is a short sentence of less than ten or fifteen words - rhythmic, punchy, and usually presents a shocking, uncomfortable, or intriguing fact about the characters or the story. One of the best examples, I think, is from George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, which goes,
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."
The second is a paragraph opening (can be one sentence or a collection of two or three) - descriptive, specific, and rich in the way that it presents the setting to the reader. The best example I have for this is the opening of The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. It goes,
"May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month. The days are long and humid. The river shrinks and black crows gorge on bright mangoes in still, dustgreen trees. Red bananas ripen. Jackfruits burst. Dissolute bluebottles hum vacuously in the fruity air. Then they stun themselves against clear windowpanes and die, fatly baffled in the sun."
7:26 highly recommend Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez that has this concept!! (Crónica de una muerte anunciada) a reporter figure tries to piece together the murder of this man and it's super well done
And also The Shrouded Woman by María Luisa Bombal (La amortajada) it works in this concept a main character that is already dead and in a fantastical way is still present in her funeral and reflects upon on her life
I want to buy young mungo so badly but the cover (paperback because I can't afford the hardcover ver with my pocket money) is not discreet at all!! My mom would banish me if she saw the two guys kissing on the cover 😭😭😭
My favourite first page of all time is the one from The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Absolutely brilliant. You should do first page or first paragraph next - I know sometimes the very first line may not be that impressive, but the first paragraph definitely is.
Young Mungo was so devestatingly brilliant. Never have I been so scared reading the last couple of pages of a book.
I read Young Mungo over summer and it took a while for. meto get into. However, once you get a proper understanding of the characters and the context for the first line it is incredibly interesting. You said it perfectly, it is a character study with a lot of social commentary surrounding Catholic and Protestant rivalry in Scotland. Stuart also includes the accents of the characters within the story, so things will be written as they are said. This made it hard for me to follow but definitely added a layer of depth to the book.
Good luck on crafting your first line! I always wanted to begin something: "Her violet heeled Maud Frizons clicked briskly across the travertine."
playing along!
1. Olga dies dreaming
2. Babel
3. A certain hunger
4. Mouth to mouth
5. Young Mungo
6. The seven moons of Maali Almeeda
7. Maps of our spectacular bodies
8. I love you but I’ve chosen darkness
9. Atlanta
10. Three rooms
MY RANKING FROM BEST TO WORST:
a certain hunger (i've read the book and enjoyed it, so i'm probably biased, but it is quite an interesting first line)
babel (this is actually quite a good set up, i've read and loved the book so i know that haha)
the seven moons of maali almeda (i like the tone of this one)
olga dies dreaming (it does seem interesting, but not hugely memorable for me)
young mungo (definitely a character study, but not something I want to dive into straight away)
maps of our spectacular bodies (quite good, not incredible)
atalanta (sets out the themes, but not overly intriguing)
three rooms (good-ish)
i love you but i've chosen darkness (it feels like quite a generic opening line, if that makes sense)
mouth to mouth (feels like it's trying too hard to intrigue me, so it consequently does not)
I have been waiting forever for Jack's review on Babel! I can't start the book without Jack's approval
Love your vids, always entertaining
Did I miss the "every book I read on 2022" video?
Ohh my order is this :
1. Olga dies dreaming
2. Young mungo
3. The seven moons of Maali Almeeda
4. Babel
5. Mouth to mouth
7.A certain hunger
8. Three Rooms
9. Maps of our spectacular bodies
10. I love you but ive chosen darkness
Love the concept, please make this an ongoing series! Much love from Austria! ❤️
Judging books by their last lines???
Its the obvious next step🤷🏻
Hey Jack, what about some followup video where you rank the books after you read them, and compare that to the first line judgements....? Cool to know how that works out 😅😊
My ranking:
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeira
A Certain Hunger
Mouth to Mouth
Young Mungo
Atlanta
Babel
Olga Dies Dreaming
Maps of our Spectacular Bodies
Three Rooms
I love you but I've chosen darkness
I'm a bit sleepy now but ya I'm pretty sure this is it.
What is there to see from an aeroplane you ask? When I was 18 I was flying home from Madrid and I watched lightning out of the window. How was this different from seeing it on the gound? I watched it from above the clouds, seeing it as flashing balls below me, the light seeming to dance across the blanket below me as each area flashed in turn. My mum, sat next to me, didn't turn her head to see. Sticking her nose further into her book, she tuned out the noise of the plane around her until the bubbling of families overhearing me and flattening their faces to the windows became too loud to ignore. She turned and watched the last two flashes flicker through the sky like fireworks.
"Oh wow, it really is lightning!"
"You missed the best part" I said
(genuinely just started a normal comment and then my writing brain ran away with me oops)
I love these videos. It would be great to have a follow-up once you've read them all to see where they ranked after finishing them.
My Rating:
- Babel
- Mouth to mouth
- Certain Hunger
- 7 Moons
- Atalanta
- I love you but
- Maps
- Mungo
- 3 Rooms
- Olga Dies
These videos are definitely fun! 💗
i always love how Jack's videos are so down to earth and low-maintenance like no fancy professional lighting & set up and getting all commercial. It's just him and his books in his room. He feels like a mate you would actually know from school or an older cousin who has a passionate hobby
guessing jack has atalanta in his top spot before i watch the video bc he’s a $lut for a greek mythology retelling
It would be so cool with a follow up after you read all books. Like, if you’d still rate them the same way and in the same order
Here's my ranking! It was really fun to compare my opinions to yours:
Atlanta (breathtaking, immediately put it on my tbr)
A Certain Hunger (descriptive and sociological? sign me up)
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida (beautifully simply introspective and philosophical, I absolutely love it)
Babel (love when a writing style gives off an academia vibe)
Young Mungo (sounds awesome! very intriguing and seems like it'll have some themes I'll like)
Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies (super intriguing - I want to read on to explore the unique writing style further)
Three Rooms (a nice, inoffensive opener)
Olga Dies Dreaming (it was really well written but it feels like it has an unlikable protagonist which is not my vibe personally rn)
I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness (feels like it'd either be really good or very bad and I'm worried that it'd be very bad)
Mouth to Mouth (just feels like a typical hook to lure you in and therefore a bit tiresome)
Sooo similar thoughts on all the books except for Olga Dies Dreaming! Apart from that, I think our top half and bottom half of the ranking consists of the same groups of books, which is cool. otherwise it just comes down to our differing tastes!
For right now, at least, I'm only really interested in reading Atlanta, A Certain Hunger, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, Babel and maaaaaybe Young Mungo. Thanks for suggesting to also rank the books! I'll do it next time too!!
this is such a great video concept and might just be a new staple in my process of deciding what to read next!!!
my rankings: the seven moons of maali almeida, a certain hunger, mouth to mouth, olga dies dreaming, young mungo, babel, atlanta, maps of our spectacular bodies, i love you but i've chosen darkness, three rooms
I would love to see you read them and then rank them again and see how the books compare to their opening lines
my rating!!!
a certain hunger
olga dies daydreaming
the seven moons of maali
maps of our spectacular bodies
babel
young mungo
mouth to mouth
atlanta
i love you but i’ve chosen darkness
three rooms
When you opened the book backwards it made me think you should definitely do for the LAST LINE
Excited to see what you make of Olga Dies Dreaming. I've been reading it for a book club this month and I'm hooked.
can't wait for your review of Babel. it's such an interesting book
I'd love to see a follow-up video after you've read all of these books to see how well your rating of their opening lines correlated with your opinion/ranking of the books themselves!
I suppose you've officially made your library....1000 books!! 🤔🤔
Love these videos! 😊 So far, Atlanta sounds great 🧡
Are you posting a 2022 recap? I know I keep asking but I need recs and I love yours 😂
Love the concept! Here's my "stack":
A Certain Hunger
Atalanta
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
Young Mungo
Babel
Olga Dies Dreaming
Mouth to Mouth
Maps of our Spectacular Bodies
Three Roooms
I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness
My ranking:
Babel
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
A Certain Hunger
Olga Dies Dreaming
Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies
Young Mungo
Three Rooms
Atalanta
Mouth to Mouth
I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness
Here is my ranking
1) Babel - any book that starts with a character's death is gripping
2) The 7 moons of malia almeida - I need to know more
3) mouth to mouth - kInd of basic but I am intrigued
4) Atlanta - like it seems like I'd like the way the story would move from there
5) 3 rooms - just sounds nice
6) Olga dies dreaming - weird and so random
7) a certain hunger - good I guess
8) young mungo - so long and for what
9) maps of spectacular bodies - i understood nothing
10) I love you but I've chosen darkness - again so long and for what. Boring.
Babel
Mouth to Mouth
Certain Hunger
Olga dies dreaming
7 Moons
Young Mungo
I love you
Atalanta
Three Rooms
Bodies
My ranking:
Babel
Mouth to mouth
Young Mungo
Olga dies dreaming
Atlanta
The seven moons of Maali almeida
A certain hunger
Three Rooms
I love you but I’ve chosen darkness
Maps of our spectacular bodies
Great video idea. It would be great to do a follow up video after reading them all and see if your impressions were accurate and if you liked them in the same ranking order.
Hey, Jack! I can't remember if you mentioned it in another video (you probably have), but have you read The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt? I watched the film, fell in love with it, and now I'm receiving the book for my birthday in a few days!
Atlanta, Olga Dies Dreaming, Seven Moons of Maali Almeida and Babel really caught my attention by the end.
The UK cover of “a certain hunger” is literally sinful
love you jack have a wonderful day... ba-bye
Olga dies dreaming
young mungo
Bable
The seven moons of Maali Almeida
I love you but I've chosen darkness
Atlanta
three rooms
A certain hunger
maps of our spectacular bodies
mouth to mouth
Atalanta sounds very interesting. BUT it wont be published until April 2023 - still 2 months away yet!!!!
Sorry Jack but the only 2 books that interest me are Atalanta and Babel.
The other "First sentences" really do not do anything for me at all. I have no interest in reading them at all.
my favorite opening line is from Mortal Engines:
"It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea."
IDC JACK YOU HAVE TO READ BABEL !! that book has my whole damn heart
Would love to see you do this with classics
My order because why not
Babel (now need to get)
Young mungo (I need this one too)
Atlanta
The seven moons
Olga dies dreaming
Mouth to mouth
A certain hunger
I love you but I've chosen darkness
Maps of spectacular bodies
Three rooms
One of my favourite books of all time has a killer first line: "My father took one hundred and thirty-two minutes to die." which is the first line of the prologue of Jellicoe Road my Melina Marchetta. The first line of the first chapter (which is from the pov of the main character, which the prologue is not) is also killer: "I'm dreaming of the boy in the tree and at the exact moment I'm about to hear the answer that I've been waiting for, the flashlights yank me out of what could have been one of those perfect moments of clarity people talk about for the rest of their lives."
Not only are both of these lines amazing because they pull you right in and are intriguing, they are also tied heavily to the themes of the book. Like, the dream of the boy in the tree isn't just there so the character can wake up abruptly, the dream is actually heavily relevant to the rest of the plot and the main character. And the father dying is somehow both an origin and a premonition in one. They're just awesome.
Atlanta kind of annoyed me. I don't know when this book was written, but to me it seemed like the author tried to copy Circe from Madeline Miller. The opening like in Circe is "When I was born, people didn't know what I was" or something between those lines
I think a fun main channel video would be replying to the allegations of his subscription being an absolute scam. What are people paying for Jack?
My favourite opening line recently was Pachinko "history has not been kind to us, but no matter"
I love the short and punchy ones. Lots in this video were far too long for me personally
I think it would be interesting for you to take the same ten books AFTER you read them and re-rank them and compare them
Gotta say, at this point, I don't even feel the need to reed all the books that are reviewed... I'm here to just hear the analysis and all the rantibg along with it. Lovely XD.
into the void i spit my personal rankings, as someone who has never read any of these lol:
the seven moons of maali almeida
maps of our spectacular bodies
babel
a certain hunger
olga dies dreaming
atlanta
three rooms
mouth to mouth
young mungo
i love you but i've chosen darkness
hmmm i think i would have ranked Atalanta lower (it sounded so boring to me, but I'm not into these myth retellings anyways) and mouth to mouth higher (I also really want to know what this person saw through their airplane window!!) I've already read Babel so it was interesting to see your interpretation of the opening line!
Never read the book but A Certain Hunger had a captivating opening line by far no. 1 on this list imo.
I JUST got that jack in the books is a word play for jack in the box
From last to first:
Maps of the Spectacular Bodies
Three Rooms
A Certain Hunger
The Seven Moons of Maali
I love you but I have chosen darkness
Mouth to Mouth
Young Mungo
Babel
Olga dies dreaming
❤ Atlanta
I have had zero interest in babel until I saw this opening line. Now I’m considering it
I think our opinions on books have never been more different than today 😂😂😂
It'd be really great of there was a follow up video where we see which books you really enjoyed and how they related to the rankings!!
0:09 You can see all the titles from here.
3:29 this opening line isn’t bad, but I feel like there could’ve been a bit more added to it in order to really grab the reader’s attention.
This makes me want to endlessly edit the first line of my draft debut novel just in case someone tries to rank my book for it hahaha
The opening lines of my writing projects are never remarkable, and this video makes me feel like they need to be.
A book with my first name in the title... Added to my TBR
Unrelated but I have the same IKEA lamp and the way it set up… 😂
Ooh I love bar themes so a certain hunger appeals to me now
wow i hated that line from maps of our spectacular bodies ???
@@treesoul00 sorry i’m not sure what you mean? i didn’t enjoy that line personally because i felt like it didn’t make any sense.
Adoooored Mouth to Mouth and have recommended to many