Sunday, January 16, 2011

Memorable opening lines from novels

1. "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." - Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina (1873-1877)

2. "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." - Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859)

3. "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." - J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye (1951)

4. "In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since." - F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925)

5. "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 (1813)

6. "My mother drove me to the airport with the windows rolled down. It was seventy-five degrees in Phoenix , the sky perfect, cloudless blue." - Stephanie Meyer, Twilight (2005)

7. "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." – J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (1997)

8. "Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug. - Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (1871)

These are just some of my favorites. It doesn't even begin to touch on all the ones I love, those that are among the greatest of all time, or even the most memorable ever. This is just a random sampling, and that is all.

GC

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

One of my favorite beginings to a novel is from Antoine de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince. It begins with an airplane pilot trying to draw a boa constrictor eating an elephant, but he is getting frustrated because all of the grown-ups think it is a hat. It you haven't already read The Little Prince, I'd recommend you do so. One of the best books I've ever read, and I've read a lot of books.

Gerard Collins said...

I'll have to check out The Little Prince, as I've had it recommended to me a lot lately. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

A Series of Unfortunate Events also provides great little quirky quotes :)