Some of my favorite opening lines from novels:
- Call me Ishmael. — Moby Dick, Herman Melville
- to wound the autumnal city. — Dhalgren, Samuel R Delany
- The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed. — The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower I), Stephen King
- It was a pleasure to burn — Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
These are the ones I can remember just offhand, the ones that sank their barbs into my brain, and landed me on their green shores. All books that I highly recommend, by the way. (I would also recommend other books, and do so, here and there, but this is about first lines not just great novels.)
What first lines have sucked you in; what ones do you remember the most? What first line made you pick up a book and not put it down.
Comments please.
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July 1st, 2007 at 6:34 pm
I LOVE to read, but must admit that I haven’t been picking up the books like I used to since I began the Nursing Program.
I’ll have to think about this, and try to remember to come back.
Love you baby,
Jenny
July 10th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
“When I was six, I was a horse” - opening line from ‘She Flies Without Wings - how horses touch a woman’s soul’ by Mary D. Midkiff. I stood in the bookshop, with tears running down my face - I, who found it difficult to express emotion! Needless to say, I purchased it and still love it.