A compilation of opening lines to great novels. Some you may be familiar with and some you may not know.But all are interesting.
Ernest Hemingway once said: “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” I use this quote because it is Hemingway who first inspired me to write this small book. I read a news story about Hemingway which recounted how he rewrote the ending to Farewell To Arms thirty-nine times before he was satisfied. From this (but not only this) idea of writing and writing well I've always been keenly interested in the beginning lines of any novel or short story. You can argue what constitutes the best elements of first lines and what this introduction must do. The best, most interesting introductions compel you to keep reading and find out what happens next.
Excerpt
Once Upon A Time...
A List of the Best Opening Lines From 100 Novels
With Select Biographies of Authors
By Timothy J Taaffe
Chapter 2
James Joyce to William Gibson
21. Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed. —James Joyce, Ulysses (1922)
It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the house-tops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness. —Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, Paul Clifford (1830)
23. One summer afternoon Mrs. Oedipa Maas came home from a Tupperware party whose hostess had put perhaps too much kirsch in the fondue to find that she, Oedipa, had been named executor, or she supposed executrix, of the estate of one Pierce Inverarity, a California real estate mogul who had once lost two million dollars in his spare time but still had assets numerous and tangled enough to make the job of sorting it all out more than honorary. —Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49 (1966)
24. It was a wrong number that started it, the telephone ringing three times in the dead of night, and the voice on the other end asking for someone he was not. —Paul Auster, City of Glass (1985)
25. Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting. —William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury (1929)
26. 124 was spiteful. —Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987)
27. Somewhere in la Mancha, in a place whose name I do not care to remember, a gentleman lived not long ago, one of those who has a lance and ancient shield on a shelf and keeps a skinny nag and a greyhound for racing. —Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605; trans. Edith Grossman)
28. Mother died today. —Albert Camus, The Stranger (1942; trans. Stuart Gilbert)
29. Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu. —Ha Jin, Waiting (1999)
The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel. —William Gibson, Neuromancer (1984)
Excerpted from "Once Upon A Time: 100 Opening Lines to Great Novels" by Tim Taaffe. Copyright (C) 2012 by Tim Taaffe. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Professional Reviews
ONCE UPON A TIME: 100 OPENING LINES FROM GREAT NOVELS
4 Stars
You know those multi-hundred page books that are composed of lists, short articles, collections of odd facts, chronological lists, and so on, and are marketed as "bathroom books" because each entry is only a page or two. Well, this book is a high end version of that, and I mean that in a good way.
It starts with the 100 opening lines, each with a source attribution. It's fun to read the lines and try to remember the source, and it's fun to find lines from books you don't recognize. The 100 books that are featured cover the gamut, from classics like "Moby Dick" to more obscure novels like "The Last Good Kiss". So, there are some old friends here and some new acquaintances. A very enjoyable browse.
100 Opening lines to great novels
3 Stars
Bought this on my kindle. I enjoyed reading through this little book and it got me thinking about my favorite first lines in the books I love. So, it is a quick read and then I just sent it to my cloud probably to never look at again...
100 Opening line to great novels
4 Stars
Interesting and Appealing
These top 100 range from the ancient to the now and take you on a journey of books you treasure and books you still have to read
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