Best opening lines of a book.

135

Replies

  • BJPCraig
    BJPCraig Posts: 417 Member
    "He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad." Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini
  • sktllmdrhmzz
    sktllmdrhmzz Posts: 189 Member
    "The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed." - The Gunslinger, The Dark Tower 1
  • shanolap
    shanolap Posts: 1,204 Member
    There is a place where the sidewalk ends
    And before the street begins,
    And there the grass grows soft and white,
    And there the sun burns crimson bright,
    And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
    To cool in the peppermint wind.

    Where the Sidewalk Ends - Shel Silverstein
  • Tennolina
    Tennolina Posts: 2,413
    "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" A Tale of Two Cities.
  • CarolinaGirlinVA
    CarolinaGirlinVA Posts: 1,508 Member
    "If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book."
    -A Series of Unfortunate Events
  • coliema
    coliema Posts: 7,646 Member
    Once upon a time.
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
    "The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed." - The Gunslinger, The Dark Tower 1

    I opened this thread specifically to say this. You beat me ♥
    Best series ever written.
  • TubbsMcGee
    TubbsMcGee Posts: 1,058 Member
    "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth."
    I swear he must have said "if you want to know the truth" at least 300 times in this book. I never understood why Catcher in the Rye was so popular. There's no story.
  • firstsip
    firstsip Posts: 8,399 Member
    "I see . . ." said the vampire thoughtfully, and slowly he walked across the room towards the window.
  • MindyBlack
    MindyBlack Posts: 954 Member
    "Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense."




    ?
    Brilliant!
  • GlassslippersAndFairyDust
    GlassslippersAndFairyDust Posts: 518 Member
    In the beginning...

    this
  • Sarahsbattle
    Sarahsbattle Posts: 18 Member
    "A squat grey building of only thirty-four stories. Over the main entrance the words, CENTRAL LONDON HATCHERY AND CONDITIONING CENTRE, and, in a shield, the World State's motto, COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY.

    Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  • MindyBlack
    MindyBlack Posts: 954 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, Jane Austen
  • Admiral_Derp
    Admiral_Derp Posts: 866 Member
    "Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyler's pushing a gun in my mouth and saying, the first step to eternal life is you have to die." ~Fight Club
  • NoxiousNoah
    NoxiousNoah Posts: 107
    When I stepped out,into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house,I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman,and a ride home.
  • reepobob
    reepobob Posts: 1,172 Member
    "The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed." - The Gunslinger, The Dark Tower 1

    I opened this thread specifically to say this. You beat me ♥
    Best series ever written.

    I second that... :)
  • jayche
    jayche Posts: 1,128 Member
    There is no lake at Camp Green Lake.
  • Meopinionated
    Meopinionated Posts: 3
    "The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone. She was very old, though she did not know it, and she was no longer the careless color of sea foam, but rather the color of falling snow on a moonlit night. But her eyes were still clear and unwearied, and she still moved like a shadow on the sea."

    The Last Unicorn, Peter S Beagle
  • Yanicka1
    Yanicka1 Posts: 4,564 Member
    There is no lake at Camp Green Lake.

    Holes....love that book
  • jmach002
    jmach002 Posts: 113 Member
    "We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold."

    shortly followed by "My attorney had taken his shirt off and was pouring beer on his chest, to facilitate the tanning process."



    -Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
  • jayche
    jayche Posts: 1,128 Member
    There is no lake at Camp Green Lake.

    Holes....love that book
    Yeah me too, I've read it so many times in my childhood that the first sentence is engraved in my memory lol
    I might have to pick it up and read it again sometime...
  • GiddyupTim
    GiddyupTim Posts: 2,819 Member
    "The Polish general suffered severe gastric distress during the entire return flight from Moscow. Not because he had drunk too much vodka -- he was used to that; and not because he was helping the Soviets oppress Poland -- he was used to that, too -- but because of a secret he'd been told."
    Well, they are not the best opening lines. But the book is great !
    The general has found out that the Russians intend to send a poet to the moon as a public relations stunt.
    Zero Gravity, by Richard Lourie.
  • mbryanlpc
    mbryanlpc Posts: 100 Member
    "The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed." - The Gunslinger, The Dark Tower 1



    This :)
  • reddi2roll
    reddi2roll Posts: 356 Member
    "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 wayin 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." ~ Charles ****ens Tale Of Two Cities

    My favorite!
  • stepherzzzzz
    stepherzzzzz Posts: 469 Member
    If you're going to read this, don't bother.
  • vickilm1976
    vickilm1976 Posts: 141 Member
    "The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed." - The Gunslinger, The Dark Tower 1

    Well done!
    Beat me to it!

    Those are my favourite books! Just started reading them all again.
  • herky
    herky Posts: 68 Member
    "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort." LOVE Tolkien.
  • E_H9
    E_H9 Posts: 23
    "The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed." - The Gunslinger, The Dark Tower 1

    Yes! I thought of this line too.
  • wigglypeaches
    wigglypeaches Posts: 146 Member
    "So I'm on my way to work and I stop to watch a pigeon fight a rat in the snow, and some ****head tries to mug me!" -Beat the Reaper, Josh Bazell
  • anifani4
    anifani4 Posts: 457 Member
    "Born mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life with his parents on their farm in remote Northern Wisconsin." opening line from: The Story of Edgar Sawelle by David Wroblewski.

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