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Top 10 first lines in fiction
The Guardian ^
| 4-5-2023
| Liz Nugent
Posted on 04/05/2023 8:34:50 PM PDT by Saije
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I clicked on this article expecting to see "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" (A Tale of Two Cities) or "Call me Ishmael (Moby Dick), LOL, and instead I find I don't really know any of the books on this list.
I think the only first line that made me interested in (possibly) reading the book was this one:
9. I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb
"On the afternoon of October 12, 1990, my twin brother Thomas entered the Three Rivers, Connecticut Public Library, retreated to one of the rear study carrels, and prayed to God the sacrifice he was about to commit would be deemed acceptable."
1
posted on
04/05/2023 8:34:50 PM PDT
by
Saije
To: Saije
‘He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. ‘
2
posted on
04/05/2023 8:36:42 PM PDT
by
GrandJediMasterYoda
(As long as Hillary Clinton remains free, the USA will never have equal justice under the law)
To: Saije
How could they possibly leave out a great opening line from a great piece of literature? “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” -- Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
That opening line tells us something about the story, and something about the narrator, and is amusing all on its own. It is not my favorite book, but it is a killer opening line.
3
posted on
04/05/2023 8:40:47 PM PDT
by
Dr. Sivana
("If you can’t say something nice . . . say the Rosary." [Red Badger])
To: GrandJediMasterYoda
What is, The Old Man and the Sea ?
4
posted on
04/05/2023 8:41:42 PM PDT
by
11th_VA
(XX < > XY)
To: Saije
“The train went on up the track out of sight, around one of the hills of burnt timber.”
To: Saije
“The sea was angry that day”
6
posted on
04/05/2023 8:43:43 PM PDT
by
eyedigress
(Trump is my President!)
To: Saije
MARLEY was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge’s name was good upon ‘Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.
7
posted on
04/05/2023 8:43:48 PM PDT
by
LVS1
To: Saije
I remember an interview with Louis L’amour and he was asked to come with an attention-grabbing first line off the cuff.
He said, ‘He was the last man on the last space station orbiting around the charred cinder that had been Earth, wondering what he would do next, when there was a knock on the door.’
8
posted on
04/05/2023 8:43:51 PM PDT
by
ArtDodger
To: Saije
It was a dark and stormy night.
Right up there with best of times, worst of times.
9
posted on
04/05/2023 8:43:57 PM PDT
by
Larry Lucido
(Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
To: 11th_VA
Yes! One of my favorite books!
10
posted on
04/05/2023 8:44:40 PM PDT
by
GrandJediMasterYoda
(As long as Hillary Clinton remains free, the USA will never have equal justice under the law)
To: ArtDodger
Ha ha! Awesome! WHAT’S NEXT?? I read a ton of his books, the guy was brilliant
11
posted on
04/05/2023 8:46:14 PM PDT
by
GrandJediMasterYoda
(As long as Hillary Clinton remains free, the USA will never have equal justice under the law)
To: eyedigress
- like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli. I got about fifty feet out and suddenly, the great beast appeared before me. I tell you, he was ten stories high if he was a foot. As if sensing my presence, he let out a great bellow.
To: Saije
13
posted on
04/05/2023 8:47:52 PM PDT
by
DannyTN
To: Saije
"Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun."
14
posted on
04/05/2023 8:48:13 PM PDT
by
eyedigress
(Trump is my President!)
To: Saije
“The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it.” - VS Naipaul, opening line of “A Bend in the River.”
15
posted on
04/05/2023 8:48:57 PM PDT
by
Clemenza
To: imabadboy99
16
posted on
04/05/2023 8:49:25 PM PDT
by
eyedigress
(Trump is my President!)
To: Larry Lucido
17
posted on
04/05/2023 8:50:13 PM PDT
by
DannyTN
To: Saije
Thanks for this post, I didn’t see any of my fave opening lines either, but it was a nice break from politics, etc. etc.
That book sounded interesting to me too, I clicked the link, which takes you to Wikipedia btw not a sales site. Sounded dreadful really, but not uninteresting. It’s not going on the to be read list at this time tho’.
18
posted on
04/05/2023 8:50:29 PM PDT
by
jocon307
(Democrats delenda est.)
To: Saije
Mickey Spillane “The guy was dead as hell.” Vengenance is Mine (1950)
19
posted on
04/05/2023 8:53:21 PM PDT
by
citizen
(Put all LBQTwhatever programming on a new subscription service: PERV-TV)
To: Saije
I a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit.
20
posted on
04/05/2023 8:53:49 PM PDT
by
Kartographer
(“We Mutually Pledge To Each Other Our Lives, Our Fortunes And Our Sacred Honor”)
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