I think that the first line of a book is one of the most interesting parts of it. Which books have banging opening lines? — classics, modern fiction, anything really
“They had come to the spot in the freshness of June, chased from the village by its people, following deer path through the forest, the valleys, the fern groves, and the quaking bogs . “
Kafka_23 on
“Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I can’t be sure” Albert Camus
GRAVlTON on
I’ve recently become fascinated by books’ first lines and the impact they have on the reader and the rest of the story. For example, Bradbury’s “it was a pleasure to burn”; Dodie Smith’s “I write this sitting in a kitchen sink”; Zusak’s “Here is a small fact: you are going to die.”
pizzzzzagirl on
“I am a sick man… I am a wicked man.”
perpetualmotionmachi on
“I got a story to tell you”
The Book of Koli by MR Carey
TheIrishElbow on
“It was the day my grandmother exploded.”
The Crow Road by Iain Banks.
Gryptype_Thynne123 on
He was born with the gift of laughter, and a sense that the world was mad. – Scaramouche, Rafael Sabatini
CurrerBelle1847 on
“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendìa was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.”
Critical-Low8963 on
*Pride and Prejudice* starts with a good one “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”
apri11a on
“Long before we discovered that he had fathered two children by two different women, one in Drimoleague and one in Clonakilty, Father James Monroe stood on the altar of the Church of Our Lady, Star of the Sea, in the parish of Goleen, West Cork, and denounced my mother as a whore.”
Good book 👍
lightningdumpster on
“Let’s start with the end of the world, why don’t we?” – NK Jemisin, The Fifth Season
“When I was born, the name for what I was did not exist.” – Madeline Miller, Circe
ilyKarlach on
The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.
Programed-Response on
Red Sister
>It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size.
Gunslinger
>The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.
unknowncatman on
“The building was on fire, and it wasn’t my fault.” Blood Rites, Jim Butcher.
TheDustOfMen on
“No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be an heroine.” The opening line from Northanger Abbey.
Jane Austen really said “this one’s for the plain, unremarkable girls” and I’ll drink to that.
newpenzance on
“I didn’t know what email was until I got to college.”
*The Idiot |* Elif Batuman
Plane_Woodpecker2991 on
“When Red wins, she stands alone.”
– This is how you lose the time war by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.
GREAT book
Personal-Entry3196 on
It was Wang Lungs marriage day.
jsnytblk on
I did two things on my 75th birthday. I visited my wife’s grave then I joined the army.
kafqua on
No longer human: “mine has been a life of much shame.”
20 Comments
“They had come to the spot in the freshness of June, chased from the village by its people, following deer path through the forest, the valleys, the fern groves, and the quaking bogs . “
“Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I can’t be sure” Albert Camus
I’ve recently become fascinated by books’ first lines and the impact they have on the reader and the rest of the story. For example, Bradbury’s “it was a pleasure to burn”; Dodie Smith’s “I write this sitting in a kitchen sink”; Zusak’s “Here is a small fact: you are going to die.”
“I am a sick man… I am a wicked man.”
“I got a story to tell you”
The Book of Koli by MR Carey
“It was the day my grandmother exploded.”
The Crow Road by Iain Banks.
He was born with the gift of laughter, and a sense that the world was mad. – Scaramouche, Rafael Sabatini
“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendìa was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.”
*Pride and Prejudice* starts with a good one “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”
“Long before we discovered that he had fathered two children by two different women, one in Drimoleague and one in Clonakilty, Father James Monroe stood on the altar of the Church of Our Lady, Star of the Sea, in the parish of Goleen, West Cork, and denounced my mother as a whore.”
Good book 👍
“Let’s start with the end of the world, why don’t we?” – NK Jemisin, The Fifth Season
“When I was born, the name for what I was did not exist.” – Madeline Miller, Circe
The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.
Red Sister
>It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size.
Gunslinger
>The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.
“The building was on fire, and it wasn’t my fault.” Blood Rites, Jim Butcher.
“No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be an heroine.” The opening line from Northanger Abbey.
Jane Austen really said “this one’s for the plain, unremarkable girls” and I’ll drink to that.
“I didn’t know what email was until I got to college.”
*The Idiot |* Elif Batuman
“When Red wins, she stands alone.”
– This is how you lose the time war by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.
GREAT book
It was Wang Lungs marriage day.
I did two things on my 75th birthday. I visited my wife’s grave then I joined the army.
No longer human: “mine has been a life of much shame.”