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What's the best opening line of a book (fiction or non)?
- Thread starter Halo
- Start date
Cassandra fl
New Member
When browsing for books, I'm super-conscious that so much effort is put into perfecting the first line(s). So I read from the middle, to see how the book is REALLY written. 
Even so, I have always thought this opening line was fun and interesting:
I have been afraid of putting air in a tire ever since I saw a tractor tire blow up and throw Newt Hardbine over the top of the Standard Oil sign.
- from The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
Even so, I have always thought this opening line was fun and interesting:I have been afraid of putting air in a tire ever since I saw a tractor tire blow up and throw Newt Hardbine over the top of the Standard Oil sign.
- from The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
I've got a couple ...
'I'm Jared, a ghost.' Girlfriend in a Coma by Coupland
And a fantastic opening paragraph:
'One day, Annabel saw the sun and moon in the sky at the same time. The sight filled her wtih a terror which entirely consumed her and did not leave her until the night closed in catastrophe for she had no instinct for self-preservation if she was confronted with ambiguities.' Love by Angela Carter
'I'm Jared, a ghost.' Girlfriend in a Coma by Coupland
And a fantastic opening paragraph:
'One day, Annabel saw the sun and moon in the sky at the same time. The sight filled her wtih a terror which entirely consumed her and did not leave her until the night closed in catastrophe for she had no instinct for self-preservation if she was confronted with ambiguities.' Love by Angela Carter
Fore Check
New Member
"The cop climbed out of his car exactly four minutes before he got shot. He moved like he knew his fate in advance." - Persuader, by Lee Child
domani
New Member
"When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon." - James Crumley, The Last Good Kiss
"When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man." - Richard Stark, Firebreak
"When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man." - Richard Stark, Firebreak
Kiki5435
New Member
Most memorable first lines
What are your favourite first lines from the books you've read? The lines that really send a shiver down your spine before you're sucked into the pages?
This is one of my favourites: "In eighteenth-century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages." - Perfume
The opening line to Rebecca is wonderful too, but I'll leave that for someone else
What are your favourite first lines from the books you've read? The lines that really send a shiver down your spine before you're sucked into the pages?
This is one of my favourites: "In eighteenth-century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages." - Perfume
The opening line to Rebecca is wonderful too, but I'll leave that for someone else
perzephone
kickbox
The primroses were over. - from Watership Down by Richard Adams
Of course, I think it's my favorite first line because it's from my all-time favorite book, not so much because it is literary mastery. It does give a taste of time and place, though. Kind of like a one-line haiku.
Of course, I think it's my favorite first line because it's from my all-time favorite book, not so much because it is literary mastery. It does give a taste of time and place, though. Kind of like a one-line haiku.
~Anne~
New Member
IT is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
Probably too easy, but it is one of my favorite books.
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. 1984 by George Orwell
Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Probably too easy, but it is one of my favorite books.
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. 1984 by George Orwell
Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Scaramanga
New Member
They shoot the white girl first. - Toni Morrison, Paradise (1998)
Quasimodo Sunday was a spiteful day. - Julian Lees, The Fan Tan Players (2010)
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. - Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (1955)
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. - George Orwell, 1984 (1949)
Quasimodo Sunday was a spiteful day. - Julian Lees, The Fan Tan Players (2010)
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. - Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (1955)
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. - George Orwell, 1984 (1949)
Snork Maiden
New Member
Mentioned already, but I love the first lines of Nineteen Eighty Four and Rebecca and my fave opening line ever is:
Marley was dead to begin with. ~ A Christmas Carol, Dickens.
Marley was dead to begin with. ~ A Christmas Carol, Dickens.
.
My all-time favorite opening line is Italo's calvino's If on a winter's night a traveler :
" You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a winter's night a traveler. "
Others that I like :
" It was love at first sight. " Heller, Catch-22
" I have never begun a novel with more misgiving. " W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor's Edge
"All this happened, more or less." Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five
" If you're going to read this, dont bother. " Chuck Palahniuk, Choke
My all-time favorite opening line is Italo's calvino's If on a winter's night a traveler :
" You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a winter's night a traveler. "
Others that I like :
" It was love at first sight. " Heller, Catch-22
" I have never begun a novel with more misgiving. " W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor's Edge
"All this happened, more or less." Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five
" If you're going to read this, dont bother. " Chuck Palahniuk, Choke
All these opening lines are great and make me intrigued to read their books.
.
Landslide
Well-Known Member
One line that always comes to me is the one from Ken Follet's The Pillars of the Earth:
The small boys came early to the hanging.
I was hooked
Other candidates, anyone?
We already had a thread on the subject, so I merged yours in it.
Alix
Member
I've not seen this thread before and I realize its really old but I had to post my favorite first line. Forgive me if its already been done.
"I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster." Jeannette Walls, Glass Castles.
"I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster." Jeannette Walls, Glass Castles.
I too did not know this was an old thread. Nice reading, and yes, the opening sentences from Rebecca, A Tale of two Cities, Moby Dick, Pride and Prejudice are memorable indeed.
So are those from Bleak House, Dickens writing about the London Fog. I haven't the book at hand, sadly, and it is too long a sentence to quote from memory.
Another great one from Patrick O' Brian, The Commodore:
"Thick weather in the chops of the Channel and a dirty night, with the strong north east winds bringing rain from the low sky and racing cloud: Ushant somewhere away on the starboard bow, the Scillies to larboard, but never a light, never a star to be seen: and no observation for the last four days."
Read that, and you are on board Jack Aubrey's HMS Surprise in an instant, the same one that featured in the movie Master and Commander. O' Brian wrote 20 novels around Aubrey and Maturin, and some of the best naval literature to be written. Each book is far superior to the one movie that was made, IMHO.
So are those from Bleak House, Dickens writing about the London Fog. I haven't the book at hand, sadly, and it is too long a sentence to quote from memory.
Another great one from Patrick O' Brian, The Commodore:
"Thick weather in the chops of the Channel and a dirty night, with the strong north east winds bringing rain from the low sky and racing cloud: Ushant somewhere away on the starboard bow, the Scillies to larboard, but never a light, never a star to be seen: and no observation for the last four days."
Read that, and you are on board Jack Aubrey's HMS Surprise in an instant, the same one that featured in the movie Master and Commander. O' Brian wrote 20 novels around Aubrey and Maturin, and some of the best naval literature to be written. Each book is far superior to the one movie that was made, IMHO.