First Chapter, First Paragraph Tuesday Intros: Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan

First Chapter First Paragraph

Every Tuesday fellow blogger Bibliophile By the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where bloggers share the first paragraph of the book they are currently reading or thinking about reading soon.

Brain on Fire, Susannah Cahalan, psychosis, memoir

As soon as I finish The Lords of Discipline, I’m going start reading Susannah Cahalan’s bestselling memoir, Brain on Fire, (about her unexplained, temporary break from reality) for my Larchmont Book Club. The first paragraph from Chapter 1 (note: there is a Prologue) sets up this medical mystery:

“Maybe it all began with a bug bite, from a bedbug that didn’t exist.

One morning, I’d woken up to find two red dots on the main purplish-blue vein running down my left arm. It was early 2009, and New York City was awash in bedbug scares: they infested offices, clothing stores, movie theaters, and park benches. Though I wasn’t naturally a worrier, my dreams had been occupied for two nights straight by finger-long bedbugs. It was a reasonable concern, though after carefully scouring the apartment, I couldn’t find a single bug or any evidence of their presence. Except those two bites. I even called in an exterminator to check out my apartment, an overworked Hispanic man who combed the whole place, lifting up my sofa bed and shining a flashlight into places I had never before thought to clean. He proclaimed my studio bug free. That seemed unlikely, so I asked for a follow-up appointment for him to spray. To his credit, he urged me to wait before shelling out an astronomical sum to do battle against what he seemed to think was an imaginary infestation. But I pressed him to do it, convinced that my apartment, my bed, my body had been overrun by bugs. He agreed to return and exterminate.”

What do you think? Would you keep reading? Stay tuned for my full review…

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9 Comments

  1. Paulita wrote:

    She sounds really worried. I’m sure something else is going on though. Here’s Mine

    Posted 1.28.14 Reply
  2. Tara wrote:

    I saw this one everywhere when it first came out, definitely looks like an interesting read! I’ll be curious to see your final thoughts!

    Posted 1.28.14 Reply
  3. I’ve heard so much about this memoir. It sounds very interesting and I would probably read a bit more.

    My Tuesday Post: http://www.bookclublibrarian.com/2014/01/first-chapter-first-paragraph-47.html

    Posted 1.28.14 Reply
  4. Wow! I am now very caught up in what is happening…can’t wait to read this! Enjoy…and here’s MY TUESDAY POST

    Posted 1.28.14 Reply
  5. I’m very curious about this book and would definitely keep reading. Will keep an eye out for your review.

    Posted 1.28.14 Reply
  6. I think I would keep reading. I’ve seen this book around and am curious about it. I look forward to reading your review.

    Posted 1.28.14 Reply
  7. Nise' wrote:

    It sounds like something worse than bed bugs is happening.

    Posted 1.28.14 Reply
  8. Judy B wrote:

    I read this book last year. It is very good. Hope you like it.
    Though I always like biographies and memoirs, I chose this book to meet a challenge selection – for a book with Fire in the title. I’m glad I did, because it is an interesting read.

    Posted 1.28.14 Reply
  9. Wow, this sounds awesome — great pick Sarah and thanks so much for joining us this week. Hope you become a regular weekly participant.

    Posted 1.28.14 Reply

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