In the tradition of fav quotes, what's the best opening line from a book?
Im reminded of the line that goes something like this "He was the last man on Earth, there was a knock on the door" I think that one a contest.
Anyway two of my favourites are "After many days the sun began to set." and "The Earth twitched like a dead thing." Dont ask me why!

One of my favorites is "My name is Robinette Broadhead, in spite of which I am male." from Frederik Pohl's Gateway

Among my favorite openers are: "They threw me off the hay truck about noon" (Cain, The Postman Always Rings Twice), "None of them knew the color of the sky" (Crane, The Open Boat) and "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there." (Hartley, The Go-Between)

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Douglas Adams has some great first lines.

From The Restaurant at the End of the Universe:
"The story so far:
In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."

From Life, the Universe and Everything:
"The regular early morning yell of horror was the sound of arthur Dent waking up and suddenly remembering where he was."
I'm sure we can all relate to that one.

I think my favourite is the opening of “Pride and Prejudice”:

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

It’s been quoted so often that it’s become a bit hackneyed, but it tells us so much about the mores of the society that we’re going to see, and the author’s attitudes.

Then there’s the opening of “Nineteen Eighty-Four”:

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”

It’s all so ordinary and unremarkable until you get to “thirteen,” and then you get the first stark hint of how much things have changed by 1984.

I've been waiting for someone to quote "Pride and Prejudice", it's a favorite of mine, too. I also like the opening line to "Catcher in the Rye", in fact, in my opinion, it's the best thing in the book.
"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 getting into it, if you want to know the truth."

I like the deathless opening line of Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities," which goes as follows:

"Call me Ishmael."

????????????? HUH????

Sorry, Ren!

I meant the opening words of "The Sun Also Rises". I'm glad you caught me out on that one. Just to straighten things out, I will reproduce Hem's famous intro:

Quote:

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You don't know about me, without you have read a book by the name of 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,' but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. That is nothing. I never seen anybody but lied, one time or another...

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I will be more careful in the future.

Ok i'm confused. "Call me Ishmael" that's Moby Dick isnt it?
A Tale of Two Cities is the It was the best of times it was the worst of times line i think. As for The Sun also Rises, i got no idea!

Quote:

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Ok i'm confused

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yes well, our Mr Upway aims to confuse, so you made his day.

Once upon a time....

If it was "Mr. Upway" (gee Ren I got a big laugh out of that ) it would have been "Call me Ishmael".

Call me Ishmael. I ate the bear's porridge.

Call me Ishmael. I had to take a basket of food to my grandmother and I wore a red hood.

Call me Ishmael, it was the best of times.

I still think it's got to be "Once upon a time...."

cheers
Maynooth

Also worthy of mention are the haunting opening words of William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury, which are of course as follows:

Quote:

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I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills

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I was impressed by the opening paragraphs of the very first Harry Potter!

I received an email this morning that presented a link where you could vote for the best opening line of a book. Here is the link:

http://www.openinghooks.us/

It was great fun to read thru what people felt were the best opening lines. What is your favorite? What should not have been on the list?

I quite like the opening to A Christmas Carol
"Marley was dead, to begin with."

Don't we have some quizzes where you identify the opening lines of books? Can anyone produce those links?

Yes, there are several, and also some quizzes on endings. In the quiz directory, click on Literature: Mixed Literature and then on Literary Terms and Quotes.

I too like the opening line of "The Catcher In The Rye" ...

"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 getting into it, if you want to know the truth."

Antony Burgess' "Earthly Powers"......"It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me." Creates quite a picture, doesn't it??!!

Moby Dick, Tale of Two Cities, Pride and Prejudice, 1984 . . . they're all good openers. Anna Karenina's not bad, "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way" . . . but the one I think I like the most, is; "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light", ahhh, the Bible!

From Italo Calvino's "If On a Winter's Night a Traveler":

"You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel "If on a winter's night a traveler". Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade. Best to close the door; the TV is always on in the next room. Tell the others right away, "No, I don't want to watch TV!" Raise your voice--they won't hear you otherwise--"I'm reading! I don't want to be disturbed!" Maybe they haven't heard you, with all that racket; speak louder, yell: "I'm beginning to read Italo Calvino's new novel!" Or, if you prefer, don't say anything; just hope they'll leave you alone."

Coolupway, are you having us on again? Sounds like the opening lines of "Out of Africa" by Isak Dinesen.

"Mrs. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies' eardrops and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it reached Lynde's Hollow it was a quiet, well-conducted little stream, for not even a brook could run past Mrs. Rachel Lynde's door without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably was conscious that Mrs. Rachel was sitting at her window, keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed, from brooks and children up, and that if she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof."

This has to be my favourite opening line. L.M. Montgomery had SUCH talent. Just reading that sends shivers up my spine.

The opening line to "Gone With The Wind" is good also.

I have a thing for the classics...

“We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive...." And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming: "Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?"

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson.

Makes me laugh every time