Here’s another idea about memorable first lines from books.
What are your favorite first sentences from books? Is there a book that you liked specially because of its first sentence? Or a book, perhaps that you didn’t like but still remember simply because of the first line?
The only line that is currently coming to mind is:
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." from A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens. There is a reason it is one of my favorite books.
The full first sentence reads as follows:
It was the best of times,' it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only
2 comments:
One of my favorite openings is from Triplanetary, by E. E. "Doc" Smith:
"Two thousand million of so years ago two galaxies were colliding; or, rather, were passing through each other."
I love it because it starts the entire story on such an epic scale, and it never really lets up from there. For the rest of the book (and even the rest of the series), things keep such a cosmic scale.
One of my Fav's is "All Creatures Great an Small" By James Herriot.
They didn't say anything about this in the books, I thought, as the snow blew through the gaping doorway and setled on my naked back.
I lay face down on the cobbled floor in a pool of nameless muck,...
I was young and it intrigued me. I have read all of his books and loved them and I don't even like animals that much.
Post a Comment