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Great opening lines in literature

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Beaker, Oct 14, 2008.

  1. Beaker

    Beaker Active Member

    Great choice ID.
     
  2. HC

    HC Well-Known Member

    I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster.

    The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls
     
  3. jgmacg

    jgmacg Guest

    "Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don't know."

    -- Albert Camus, L'etranger
     
  4. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    And for great ending line:

    --Name and address withheld by request.
     
  5. 21

    21 Well-Known Member

    In the great green room
    there was a telephone
    and a red balloon
    and a picture of
    the cow jumping over the moon.

    --margaret wise brown
     
  6. "It was a hot, sticky night in Barcelona and all the good whores had the summer flu."

    I think it was Bud Shrake.
     
  7. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    Excellent call. We had a few weeks when little miss OOP wanted to hear that one before bed every night. I never get tired of reading it to her.
     
  8. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    A lot of great ones mentioned.

    I am partial to:

    Also, there is technically an introduction written in the voice of the narrator, but the beginning of Chapter One of The Scarlett Letter begins:

    Another favorite:
    And one last one, because it sets up the book better than any other first line I can think of:

     
  9. HejiraHenry

    HejiraHenry Well-Known Member

    Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. – David Coppefield.
     
  10. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    I am an invisible man. — Invisible Man
     
  11. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    i've given away 2 copies of "for whom the bell tolls" so i can't copy the opening, which is my choice here.
     
  12. I can't believe no one has mentioned a Penthouse Forum letter yet?
     
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