Grabbers: A selection of first sentences from new books, March 8 Today, sipping tea from a faded mug and sitting in front of his computer in running pants and sneakers, John grieved over yet another article about the demise of robotic pets. The Thing About Great White Sharks: [...] Other Stories, by Rebecca Adams Wright “Post-Exoticism in 10 Lessons, Lesson Eleven,” by Antoine Volodine “The Country of Ice Cream Star,” a novel by Sandra Newman “The Possibilities,” a novel, now in paperback, by Kaui Hart Hemmings