Hi Maggie


Here's a few for ya -- in no particular order:

"One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in bed he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug." -- Franz Kafka, "The Metamorphosis"

"12:35 p.m. - The phone rings. I am not amused." -- Fran Leibowitz, "Metropolitan Life"

"Love is like an iceberg: only a small part of it is visible, and even this visible part is little known." -- Pitirim Sorokin, "The Ways and Power of Love".

"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." -- George Orwell, "1984"

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
by Gregory Maguire "From the crumpled bed the wife said, "I think today's the day..."

1) It is a sin to write this. "Anthem" Ayn Rand (1937)

2) You see, I had this space suit. "Have Space Suit, Will Travel" Robert. A Heinlein (1958)

3) In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit. "The Hobbit" J.R.R. Tolkein (1937)

4) There was a boy called Eustance Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" C.S. Lewis (1952)

5) My name is Odd Thomas, though in this age when fame is the altar at which most people worship, I am not sure why you should care who I am or that I exist. "Odd Thomas" Dean Koontz (2003)

6) It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on Earth has ever produced the expression "As pretty as an airport". "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul" Douglas Adams (1988)

7) Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. "Lolita" Vladimir Nabokov (1955)


Sadly, this is all that I could find. I have read books that I have loved with a passion, but they don't all have great first lines. I don't love all of the books listed above with a passion, but I have to say I think the opening lines are very compelling for various reasons.

I have read books that I have loved with a passion, but they don't all have great first lines. I don't love all of the books listed above with a passion, but I have to say I think the opening lines are very compelling for various reasons.

Exactly!

"One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in bed he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug." -- Franz Kafka, "The Metamorphosis"

I think this one wins!

There was a boy called Eustance Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" C.S. Lewis (1952)

This is also one of my favorite first lines...And I loved the book.

"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, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (written in an age of leisure when 120 words was not considered excessively long for a first sentence).

written in an age of leisure when 120 words was not considered excessively long for a first sentence).

Great first sentence--but a booger to read aloud:)