100 best first lines from novels
- Thread starter Urederra
- Start date
Bartleby
Remembers laughter
"We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold."
-- Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
-- Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Leifmk
Deity
I was pleased to see Iain Banks on the list.
A couple of favorites that weren't:
Snow, tenderly caught by eddying breezes, swirled and spun in to and out of bright, lustrous shapes that gleamed against the emerald-blazoned black drape of sky and sparkled there for a moment, hanging, before settling gently to the soft, green-tufted plain with all the sickly sweetness of an over-written sentence. (Steven Brust, To Reign in Hell)
The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel. (William Gibson, Neuromancer)
Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought
countless ills upon the Achaeans. (Homer's Iliad, Samuel Butler translation).
A couple of favorites that weren't:
Snow, tenderly caught by eddying breezes, swirled and spun in to and out of bright, lustrous shapes that gleamed against the emerald-blazoned black drape of sky and sparkled there for a moment, hanging, before settling gently to the soft, green-tufted plain with all the sickly sweetness of an over-written sentence. (Steven Brust, To Reign in Hell)
The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel. (William Gibson, Neuromancer)
Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought
countless ills upon the Achaeans. (Homer's Iliad, Samuel Butler translation).
I think that opening paragraphs are more important than opening sentences.
I like the Cask of Amodillado story, and the opening is fine too
@Ureddera: what exactly is so special about the opening of Don Quixote? It is very likely that it was a very ussual way to open a story; even entirely boring
Also i never liked Tolkien, and do not find the opening line of the Hobbit (which i have read, unlike Lord of the Rings) to be something good either; at any rate for one who doesnt know what a hobbit is it can sound really problematic -and people originally did not.
There is always this, ofcourse: "When Gregor Samsa woke one morning after uneasy dreams, he found himself on his bed, transformed into a giant roach"
I like the Cask of Amodillado story, and the opening is fine too
@Ureddera: what exactly is so special about the opening of Don Quixote? It is very likely that it was a very ussual way to open a story; even entirely boring
Also i never liked Tolkien, and do not find the opening line of the Hobbit (which i have read, unlike Lord of the Rings) to be something good either; at any rate for one who doesnt know what a hobbit is it can sound really problematic -and people originally did not.
There is always this, ofcourse: "When Gregor Samsa woke one morning after uneasy dreams, he found himself on his bed, transformed into a giant roach"
Urederra
Mostly harmless
varwnos said:@Ureddera: what exactly is so special about the opening of Don Quixote? It is very likely that it was a very ussual way to open a story; even entirely boring
I think It wasn't very usual until Cervantes wrote it. And the fact it is very usual right now shows how successful the opening has become.
Plus, It might sound better in Spanish. The translator has to twist the first sentence a bit to translate the particle "cuyo", which doesn't have a direct translation into English.
@Carlos, The Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy has a good beginning.
@Leifmk: Neuromancer's opening is in the list.
Rambuchan
The Funky President
"Once upon a time, or was it twice?" ~ The Yellow Submarine.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It may be from a film and not a book, but it's a classic opening line, that is vaguely pertinent, albeit in an asymmetrical fashion.
Nice thread idea Urederra. Many good ones here already.
~ The Yellow Submarine.Yeah, yeah, yeah. It may be from a film and not a book, but it's a classic opening line, that is vaguely pertinent, albeit in an asymmetrical fashion.
Nice thread idea Urederra. Many good ones here already.
Urederra
Mostly harmless
thanks Rambuchan, Here is a beginning of a movie I love, I wonder if is also the beginning of a book as well.
"Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive, and for a while I could not enter for the way was barred to me. Then, like all dreamers, I was possessed of a sudden, the supernatural powers and passed like a spirit through the barrier before me. The drive wound away in front of me, twisting and turning as it had always done. But as I advanced, I was aware that a change had come upon it. Nature had come into her own again, and little by little had encroached upon the drive with long tenacious fingers, on and on while the poor thread that had once been our drive. And finally, there was Manderley. Manderley, secretive and silent. Time could not mar the perfect symmetry of those walls. Moonlight can play odd tricks upon the fancy, and suddenly it seemed to me that light came from the windows. And then a cloud came upon the moon and hovered an instant like a dark hand before a face. The illusion went with it. I looked upon a desolate shell, with no whisper of a past about its staring walls. We can never go back to Manderley again. That much is certain. But sometimes, in my dreams, I do go back to the strange days of my life which began for me in the south of France..."
Is it the beginning of a book? Which one?
"Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive, and for a while I could not enter for the way was barred to me. Then, like all dreamers, I was possessed of a sudden, the supernatural powers and passed like a spirit through the barrier before me. The drive wound away in front of me, twisting and turning as it had always done. But as I advanced, I was aware that a change had come upon it. Nature had come into her own again, and little by little had encroached upon the drive with long tenacious fingers, on and on while the poor thread that had once been our drive. And finally, there was Manderley. Manderley, secretive and silent. Time could not mar the perfect symmetry of those walls. Moonlight can play odd tricks upon the fancy, and suddenly it seemed to me that light came from the windows. And then a cloud came upon the moon and hovered an instant like a dark hand before a face. The illusion went with it. I looked upon a desolate shell, with no whisper of a past about its staring walls. We can never go back to Manderley again. That much is certain. But sometimes, in my dreams, I do go back to the strange days of my life which began for me in the south of France..."
Is it the beginning of a book? Which one?
Rambuchan
The Funky President
Dunno the book but that reads like Daphne Du Maurier. Am I right?
EDIT: Or even some Angela Carter?
EDIT: Or even some Angela Carter?
Simon Darkshade
Mysterious City of Gold
I look to Gemmell:
Wolf In Shadow's encapsulated quest for Jerusalem is terrific, but the Last Guardian trumps it:
"But he did not die."
Wolf In Shadow's encapsulated quest for Jerusalem is terrific, but the Last Guardian trumps it:
"But he did not die."
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
You may think that Genesis is no more than ancient mythology (which is not quite the same thing as fiction), but that line certainly gets things started off right.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
Again, you might think John didn't know what he was talking about, but it's a good setup.
You may think that Genesis is no more than ancient mythology (which is not quite the same thing as fiction), but that line certainly gets things started off right.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
Again, you might think John didn't know what he was talking about, but it's a good setup.
Ayatollah So
the spoof'll set you free
"The night was humid" - the opening line of Owen's creative writing masterpiece in the movie Throw Momma From the Train. A fictional piece of fiction.
@Eran: yeah, the Bible is the greatest story ever taken as fact
@Eran: yeah, the Bible is the greatest story ever taken as fact
Ayatollah So said:Yeah, the Bible is the greatest story ever taken as fact
You'll have that. In the case of the Book of Judges, its best line is not the first but the last:
"In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes."
In other words, the writer was not trying to justify what everyone was doing (all the smiting and kidnapping and gang rape and whatnot) but using it as a negative example. Important to remember if you intend to use the Bible as a guide in your life.
7ronin
海軍少佐
I have always been fond of #1, Moby Dick.
Esox
In Search of Inspirado
SupremeC said:
A Wrinkle in Time actually starts with that exact line. I wonder if L'Engle or Snoopy thought of it first. I hope it was Snoopy.
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