Comments on: 15 Immortal Opening Lines

By: Nancy

Nancy — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:17:14 +0000

You picked two of my faves: the Márquez and Orwell.

Katie mentioned one of my other faves.

I love short sentences that immediately set a mood. Another favorite:

“It is a sin to write this.” Anthem by Ayn Rand.

By: Scott M

Scott M — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:48:29 +0000

“It is probable with the exception of the Krakatoa explosion, in all of history no human ears had ever been assaulted by the intensity of sound produced by the artillery barrage that launched the Battle of Vimy Ridge on April 9, 1917.”

Pierre Berton – Vimy

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 04:12:11 +0000

“Once when I was six years old I saw a beautiful picture in a book about the primeval forest called True Stories. It showed a boa constrictor swallowing an animal. Here is a copy of the drawing.”

Le Petit Prince.

Just sayin’.

By: Simone

Simone — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:13:10 +0000

Years ago, the discovery of that Gabriel Garcia Marquez line made me want to write. So, so many….

“He was awake a long time before he remembered that his heart was broken.” — For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemmingway

“Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday. I don’t know.” – The Stranger, Albert Camus

“I am living at the Villa Borghese. There is not a crumb of dirt anywhere, nor a chair misplaced. We are all alone here and we are dead.” – Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

“I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice — not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother’s death, but because he is the reason I believe in God.” — A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving

“It is a sin to write this.” Ayn Rand, Anthem

“We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.” Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson

By: Ertug

Ertug — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:01:55 +0000

“I read a book one day and my whole life was changed”

Orhan Pamuk, New Life

By: Turner

Turner — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:26:45 +0000

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

“In the middle of the journey of my life, I found myself astray in a dark wood, where the straight road had been lost.”

“The secret is how to die”
- The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown

Great memories of my 9th grade composition teacher asking us to compose what the opening line to our novels would be, and nothing else.

By: Reeti

Reeti — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:00:05 +0000

“Nothing to be done”

Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot.

By: neha

neha — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:38:14 +0000

Since Katie’s already added my favourite to the list, how about, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” – A tale of two cities, Charles Dickens,

By: Paul Sullivan

Paul Sullivan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:09:54 +0000

Sweet piece…

By: Judith

Judith — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:08:36 +0000

“Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to treat it tragically.” Lady Chatterly’s Lover, D.H. Lawrence

By: Mariellen

Mariellen — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:21:18 +0000

“I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills.” Out of Africa, Karen Blixen

By: Kathy

Kathy — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:03:11 +0000

I want to read all of them now, which, I guess, is the point 8-).

By: Shelagh

Shelagh — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:06:56 +0000

I always liked this one:

“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip fo the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.” – Vladimir Nabakov

By: Candice

Candice — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:32:48 +0000

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was my favorite part of the Chronicles, good choices!

By: Katie Hammel

Katie Hammel — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:40:28 +0000

One of my favorites:

“Happy families are all alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” – Anna Karenina