Best opening lines in books

One of my favorite children's books! It was the first chapter book I remember being "required reading" when I was a kid. I had read other chapter books/novels before it, but this and Bridge to Terabithia stuck with me from 6th grade English class.Quotes Tagged “Best Opening Lines”. “ The Frenchman beside me had been dead since dawn. His scarred and shackled body swayed limply back and forth with every sweep of the great oar as we, his less fortunate bench-fellows, tugged and strained to keep time to the stroke. ― Jeffery Farnol, Black Bartlemy's Treasure (Treasure & Vengeance, 3 ...A list of the best opening lines from books that capture your attention and make you want to keep reading. From Moby Dick to Harry Potter, from classics to modern literature, these opening lines show the heart of the story and the characters.Franz Kafka. (shelved 2 times as best-opening-lines) avg rating 3.96 — 322,663 ratings — published 1925. Want to Read. Rate this book. 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars …Dec 28, 2023 · These are the best children’s books of all time, according to a BBC poll. Below are the top 25 opening lines from novels, according to the new poll: 1. ‘A Tale of Two Cities’. Author: Charles Dickens. Percent of votes: 29%. Opening line: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”. Here, we’ll explore some of the most famous first lines of books, from those that have stood the test of time and continue to captivate readers today to the very recent famous …Oct 28, 2019 · Alamy. “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again,” is the intriguing opener of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca (Credit: Alamy) Shorter by a word is Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. “Last ... – The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket. What makes this such a brilliant opening line is that it’s a promise pretending to be a warning. Anyone picking up the first …Jun 2, 2022 · 3. Enticing story beginnings make bold statements. The opening sentence of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (Constance Garnett translation) is another famous first line from classic fiction: Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina (1878, trans. 1901), p. Line #8: “Before we get to know each other, I just need to put it out there that I will kill all the spiders for you.”. No one wants to be caught alone in a room with a spider. Knowing you would be her knight in shining armor is a great and playful way to open*. *Note: Don’t use this line if she has a pet tarantula.Jul 12, 2012 · Especially in these days of online book excerpts and Amazon.com previews, the opening sentences of a book can cast a spell — or cast readers out of the book, forever. Here are 39 of the greatest ... Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice – an opener almost as famous as Dickens’ – subverts this epigrammatic set-up with a layer of characteristic irony: …The Opening Lines Set the Tone and Pace. Consider this opening from The Lonely Mailman by Susanna Isern (illustrated by Daniel Montero Galan): Every morning, just as the sun is rising, the old mailman leaves his house with a bag full of letters. He climbs onto his bicycle, and sets off on his way. With that as the first page, we know ...Oct 17, 2019 ... "Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud. "Last night I dreamt I went ...Find out how Agatha Christie began her books, with these 15 opening lines. ... Christie's Best Opening Lines. 16th April 2021 Nothing beats the excitement of beginning a book. Whether you are starting a new story, opening a recommended read, or revisiting a favourite novel, the sheer pleasure of those first lines is hard to quantify.One of the most famous openings of all, this line offers a social theory, but also offers a promise: we are about to read about a very unhappy – and very uniquely unhappy – family. What ...12.) “All I did was ask a stupid question.” –Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King. 13.) “The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit.” –Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. 14.) “The best time to cry is at night, when the lights are out and someone is being beaten up and screaming for help.18. Sarcastic. “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. Austen didn’t invent the word snark — but she certainly refined the …Jul 19, 2018 ... Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting. · Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. · It was a&...The answer to this is delightfully straightforward: Your opening line matters because it’s your first opportunity to draw the reader in. Great opening lines entice the reader to keep going—to immerse themselves in your story’s world. A disappointing first sentence, on the other hand, might inspire them to set the book back on the shelf.A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. ‘Marley was dead to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.’. Dickens truly was the master of the opening line. Unlike A Tale of Two Cities, the opening of A Christmas Carol is short, succinct and straight to the point. Yet it leaves so much to the imagination….Charles B. Harris’s “Introduction to Focus: In the Beginning Was the Word” and “100 Best First Lines from Novels”. Michael Bérubé, Stephen Burn, David Cowart, Jeffrey R. Di Leo, Andrew Ervin, Tom Grimes, Charles B. Harris, Kit Hume, Robert L. McLaughlin, Lance Olsen, Sally E. Parry, Nancy Pearl, James Phelan, James Schiff, Susan ...In today’s digital age, email is a powerful tool for communication. When it comes to email subject lines, brevity is key. Studies have shown that shorter subject lines tend to perf...A great opening line does one or more of the following: Begins right in the middle of the story, putting the reader immediately into the dramatic action. Takes us immediately into another world that we feel we must know more about. Immediately gives us the opportunity to escape from our own thoughts, obsessions and concerns. Let’s us know ...Here is a list, counting down from eleven to one, of the best opening lines that I read in 2020 and why I think they work: 11. “The doorman didn’t smile at me.”. — All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover. This book explores the hardships of marriage and supporting your partner through difficult life events and experiences.When it comes to booking flights with Delta Air Lines, travelers have a range of ticket options to choose from. From economy to business class, each class offers different levels o... 70 Best Iconic First Lines of Books. Amusing lines, moral lines, shocking lines, lines worth remembering, first lines from popular books and first lines by iconic characters. Mysterious lines, romantic lines, lines from classics and so on and so forth. Whatever you’re looking for you’ll find them all here. Feel free to quote them, and share ... The sense is one of oppression – a central theme in this influential novel, which charts the protagonist’s efforts to rebel against ‘the Party’, a totalitarian government that annihilates all opposition. 7. “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”.See full list on tckpublishing.com The pen is mightier than the sword. Since 1982 the Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest has challenged participants to write an atrocious opening sentence to the worst novel never written. Our whimsical literary competition honors Sir Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, whose 1830 novel Paul Clifford begins with “It was a dark and stormy night.”. Jul 12, 2012 · Especially in these days of online book excerpts and Amazon.com previews, the opening sentences of a book can cast a spell — or cast readers out of the book, forever. Here are 39 of the greatest ... The opening line spoken by an abusive father to his daughter is a haunting piece of fiction that compels you to read on. 16. 124 was spiteful. Full of Baby’s venom. – Beloved by Toni Morrison. An ominous warning kicks off this incredible Pulitzer Prize-winning book. 17. This is my favorite book in all the world, though I never read it.Consider your work as a whole when writing your first line. Anticipate the themes and foreshadow the ending. 2. Start “in medias res” – ‘Floating Bridge’ (Alice Munro) Alice Munro, one of the best short story writers of all time, knows a thing or two about opening lines. Study the opening line to her short story ‘Floating Bridge ...These famous opening lines from books seduce and invite with little foretaste of the epic potentials available should we embark upon these tales. Explore the …July 25, 2013. AP and Library of Congress. When I interviewed Stephen King for the By Heart series, he told me about some of his favorite opening lines in literature. Then, the author had an off ...Search through more than 3,000 opening lines to find the perfect chess opening for you. Explore openings variations and find matching master chess games to study. Chess Openings and Book Moves - Chess.comMay 30, 2019 ... ... BEST Writing Exercise Out There https ... How to Write Your Book's OPENING LINE (3 Easy Steps!) ... giving feedback + lowkey fangirling over my ...4. It was a pleasure to burn. – Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. A book about books being burnt states with a sentence about the pleasure of something being burnt. Makes sense. 5. I am an invisible man. – Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. Pretty much self-explanatory.Speaking of Austen and opening lines have you ever noticed the structural similarities between the opening lines of Persuasion and the opening lines of Harry Potter?. Persuasion:"Sir Walter Elliot, of Kellynch Hall, in Somersetshire, was a man who, for his own amusement, never took up a book but the Baronetage.". Harry Potter: Mr and Mrs …FAMOUS OPENING LINES OF BOOKS Reading English books is an excellent way to help your learning and get a cultural kick at the same time. Looking back at all that has ... The novel was included in Time’s 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923 and American author J. D. Salinger’s dealings of issues surrounding ...The opening sentence of a science fiction novel, perhaps more than any other genre, has a lot of work to do. Like all good fiction, it needs to hook you, jolt you into the story and establish the tone. Yet it also needs to get you interested in a whole new alternative world, a place where you'll live for the duration of the book. It's a big ask. …What Makes A Brilliant Opening Line To A Novel? · “Call me Ishmael.” · “We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take ....Today, though, I want to shine a light on that elusive literary gem: the phenomenal opening line to a phenomenal novel. Twenty-five such lines, to be exact. With the focus solely on crime fiction books. Keep in mind, selecting the best opening lines to the best books is a highly subjective endeavor. That being said, none of my choices are up ...To make a Delta airlines’ seat selection, find the link that reads Select Seats, which appears at the fourth step while booking a ticket. Seats can also be selected by accessing th...Sep 1, 2011 ... They read on, but are waiting for the story to get good. A bad one can turn off a reader (and an agent) and make them put the book back on the ...The first lines in Stephen King books set the stage for the stories that follow. Over his long career, King has written opening sentences that are funny, informative, scary, and downright odd. But which one is the best? Is it the simple statement about the gunslinger following the man in black through the desert in The Gunslinger, the novel that …Selecting the best openers in literature is no easy task. But the 13 lines below are frequently mentioned among the very greatest, be they enigmatic, unsettling, straight to the point, or just plain beautiful. 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’s ...These are the best opening lines from movies, all admittedly catchier than “People often talk about the best final lines in movies.”. They aren’t all necessarily a single sentence, but we ...In doing this, I've been paying special attention to the first couple pages and opening lines of each book, as they seem to have a pretty dramatic impact on whether or not the person continues to engage. ... This has lead me to the surprising finding that many of my favorite books either a) Have opening sequences that are somewhat mundane or b ...Feb 6, 2015 ... My favorite in English literature: “Call me Ishmael.” Moby Dick, Herman Mellville. This famous line is easily remembered since it is short, but ...Find out how Agatha Christie began her books, with these 15 opening lines. ... Christie's Best Opening Lines. 16th April 2021 Nothing beats the excitement of beginning a book. Whether you are starting a new story, opening a recommended read, or revisiting a favourite novel, the sheer pleasure of those first lines is hard to quantify. When telling a story, your opening sentence needs to be catchy, so readers continue. The best first lines of books show us the common devices authors use to grab our curiosity. We analyzed 100 New York Times bestsellers’ first lines to share the following insights: 1. Introduce interesting characters in your opening sentence. Nov 19, 2012 ... Famous First Lines · This is not a conventional cookbook. · I have never begun a novel with more misgiving. · Happy families are all alike; ev...1. magic_mollie. • 2 yr. ago. "We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold." Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Has the greatest opening scene of all time, in my eyes. I love that book. 5. belledenuit.Books shelved as best-opening-line: Beowulf by Seamus Heaney, Second Place by Rachel Cusk, Free: A Child and a Country at the End of History by Lea Ypi, ...Transparent opening lines also tend bring the humor, like this: This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it. –The Princess Bride by William Goldman. This line also sets up the unconventional and meta nature of The Princess Bride. We come to understand that the narrator is about to give us the abridged version of a ...George Orwell’s first line of 1984 starts off like a typical opening sentence but ends with an unexpected twist, giving readers a creepy, “I’m missing something here” feeling. (And in a few lines, we also get an even creepier “I’m being watched” feeling too.) It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.– The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket. What makes this such a brilliant opening line is that it’s a promise pretending to be a warning. Anyone picking up the first …Jul 12, 2012 · Especially in these days of online book excerpts and Amazon.com previews, the opening sentences of a book can cast a spell — or cast readers out of the book, forever. Here are 39 of the greatest ... Line #8: “Before we get to know each other, I just need to put it out there that I will kill all the spiders for you.”. No one wants to be caught alone in a room with a spider. Knowing you would be her knight in shining armor is a great and playful way to open*. *Note: Don’t use this line if she has a pet tarantula.Check out these 300+ best opening lines! Tonight we’re going to show you eight silent ways to kill a man. Joe Haldeman, The Forever War (Fiction) Once an angry man dragged his father along the ground through his own orchard. “Stop!” cried the groaning old man at last, “Stop! I did not drag my father beyond this tree.”.Below are the top 25 opening lines from novels, according to the new poll: 1. ‘A Tale of Two Cities’. Author: Charles Dickens. Percent of votes: 29%. Opening line: “It was the best of times ...Once upon a time…is not the only way to begin a children’s book. L.M. Montgomery opted for a daring 148-word sentence to open her classic Anne of Green Gables, while J. M. Barrie introduced ...'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times' – from A Tale of Two Cities – has been voted the most iconic opening from a novel. The line from Charles Dickens's French Revolution-era ...There’s just something about a great first line. Writers spend hours and hours toiling over the perfect way to start off their novels. So let’s look at the first lines from the top 27 thrillers of 2021. Whether you’re here just to see …FAMOUS OPENING LINES OF BOOKS Reading English books is an excellent way to help your learning and get a cultural kick at the same time. Looking back at all that has ... The novel was included in Time’s 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923 and American author J. D. Salinger’s dealings of issues surrounding ...In doing this, I've been paying special attention to the first couple pages and opening lines of each book, as they seem to have a pretty dramatic impact on whether or not the person continues to engage. ... This has lead me to the surprising finding that many of my favorite books either a) Have opening sequences that are somewhat mundane or b ...The pen is mightier than the sword. Since 1982 the Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest has challenged participants to write an atrocious opening sentence to the worst novel never written. Our whimsical literary competition honors Sir Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, whose 1830 novel Paul Clifford begins with “It was a dark and stormy night.”.Jun 2, 2022 · 3. Enticing story beginnings make bold statements. The opening sentence of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (Constance Garnett translation) is another famous first line from classic fiction: Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina (1878, trans. 1901), p. 100 Best First Lines of Novels. Updated August 5, 2020 | Infoplease Staff. The titles range from Don Quixote to Middlesex. The editors of American …The best opening lines are gut punches. They summarize the book, at least in an oblique way. But they’re not dry facts. They’re genuine, behind-the-scenes glimpses into a human life. ... From the first line of her book, Tiffany reveals that you’re going to learn things about her that you don’t know—personal things. I mean, really ...Some opening lines are effective because they succinctly introduce some major element of the novel: maybe the hero, the villain, the conflict or all of those at …Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice – an opener almost as famous as Dickens’ – subverts this epigrammatic set-up with a layer of characteristic irony: …The best opening lines set the scene for the movie that follows. Whether it's a quote from a book or a sly quip that encapsulates the entire plot of the film, finding the right way to open a movie is essential. The best opening lines in movies aren't the same as the best openings for a movie.Direct Line Cruises is a popular travel agency that specializes in providing customers with a seamless and stress-free cruise booking experience. With an extensive range of destina...21 The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams. Buy Now. Without a doubt one of the greatest fantasy epics of all time, The Dragonbone Chair influenced and is lauded by such fantasy masters as George R. R. Martin and Patrick Rothfuss, and fans have come to cherish it for its worldbuilding and canonical fantasy elements.Consider your work as a whole when writing your first line. Anticipate the themes and foreshadow the ending. 2. Start “in medias res” – ‘Floating Bridge’ (Alice Munro) Alice Munro, one of the best short story writers of all time, knows a thing or two about opening lines. Study the opening line to her short story ‘Floating Bridge ...From Daphne du Maurier 's Rebecca and J R R Tolkien 's The Hobbit, to Toni Morrison 's Beloved and F Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby, here are the 27 …If you’re looking to explore some great first lines, you should read 22 of the Very Best First Lines of Books. Because…this article isn’t going to give you any of those. If we can’t find an amazing opening line, though, an entertaining alternative is a bad first line. The best worst first lines are so bad that you can’t help but laugh.70 Best Iconic First Lines of Books. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Amusing lines, moral lines, shocking lines, lines worth remembering, …In doing this, I've been paying special attention to the first couple pages and opening lines of each book, as they seem to have a pretty dramatic impact on whether or not the person continues to engage. ... This has lead me to the surprising finding that many of my favorite books either a) Have opening sequences that are somewhat mundane or b ... The best opening to a story of ancient evil sealed in a can ever. There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. Bold words from a man whose name was Clive Staples Lewis. coincidentally just started Kay's books. This makes me want to find more of them. 8. Hombre (1961) “At first I wasn’t sure at all where to begin.”. 7. LaBrava (1983) “‘He’s been taking pictures three years, look at the work,’ Maurice said.”. 6. Bandits (1987) “Every time they got a call from the leper hospital to pick up a body Jack Delaney would feel himself coming down with the flu or something.”.George Orwell’s first line of 1984 starts off like a typical opening sentence but ends with an unexpected twist, giving readers a creepy, “I’m missing something here” feeling. (And in a few lines, we also get an even creepier “I’m being watched” feeling too.) It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.The best opening to a story of ancient evil sealed in a can ever. There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. Bold words from a man whose name was Clive Staples Lewis. coincidentally just started Kay's books. This makes me …Here are my top 15 favorite opening lines from chapter books and picture books for young children. If you are a dreamer, come in, If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer …. If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire. For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.Apr 19, 2012 ... In my previous role in a school library, Teachers' would ask me for great opening lines of novels or books to share with their class.Kami Garcia and Margret Stohl – ‘Beautiful Creatures’. “There were two kinds of people in our town. ‘The stupid and the stuck,’ my father had affectionately classified our neighbors ...Or if you insist on Fantasy: "Joshua really thought it would be easier to catch a rabbit; he was a werewolf, after all." The Black Wolves of Boston. jotas_rynds. 78 votes, 157 comments. 3.5M subscribers in the Fantasy community. r/Fantasy is the internet's largest discussion forum for the greater Speculative….Replacing a Relic watch battery requires loosening the back of the watch with a watch wrench, lining up the notches on the case, removing the back using a case opening knife and th...When telling a story, your opening sentence needs to be catchy, so readers continue. The best first lines of books show us the common devices authors use to grab our curiosity. We analyzed 100 New York Times bestsellers’ first lines to share the following insights: 1. Introduce interesting characters in your opening sentence.Feb 14, 2003 ... "Yes damn it.....the bitch is dead" - I remember that line well. How about John Gardner's novels? I don't have all his books - does anyone have&n...Selection Sunday: 8 p.m. ET Sunday, March 17 on ESPN. First Four: March 20-21. First round: March 22-23. Second round: March 24-25. Sweet 16: …Selecting the best openers in literature is no easy task. But the 13 lines below are frequently mentioned among the very greatest, be they enigmatic, unsettling, straight to the point, or just plain beautiful. 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’s ...Let the first line radiate the excitement to come. Intriguing “If you give a mouse a cookie, he’s going to ask for a glass of milk.” If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond. 2015. The first line relates what is unique about the story. The best opening lines will connect directly to the last line.That was the day Pride and Prejudice became my favorite book. For some reason, the opening couple of lines from The Lovely Bones always stuck w/ me: "My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973." I read this for the first time when I was 15.Quotes Tagged “Best Opening Lines”. “ The Frenchman beside me had been dead since dawn. His scarred and shackled body swayed limply back and forth with every sweep of the great oar as we, his less fortunate bench-fellows, tugged and strained to keep time to the stroke. ― Jeffery Farnol, Black Bartlemy's Treasure (Treasure & Vengeance, 3 ... Selecting the best openers in literature is no easy task. But the 13 lines below are frequently mentioned among the very greatest, be they enigmatic, unsettling, straight to the point, or just plain beautiful. 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’s ... 1.) “It has been sixty-four years since the president and the Consortium identified love as a disease, and forty-three since the scientists perfected a cure.” – ...8. Hombre (1961) “At first I wasn’t sure at all where to begin.”. 7. LaBrava (1983) “‘He’s been taking pictures three years, look at the work,’ Maurice said.”. 6. Bandits (1987) “Every time they got a call from the leper hospital to pick up a body Jack Delaney would feel himself coming down with the flu or something.”.A truly classic opening line, L’Engle presents us with what can be described (if we put our essay hats on for a minute here!) as ‘pathetic fallacy’, …Dec 23, 2022 · In a 2022 Amazon Book Review post, Seira Wilson included these perception-altering first words in an article on “Books with Unputdownable First Lines.” About the protagonist, Wilson wrote: “Molly is a maid at a nice New York hotel who finds the body of a murder victim who is a very wealthy and frequent guest. The opening sentence of a science fiction novel, perhaps more than any other genre, has a lot of work to do. Like all good fiction, it needs to hook you, jolt you into the story and establish the tone. Yet it also needs to get you interested in a whole new alternative world, a place where you'll live for the duration of the book. It's a big ask. …01 /8 Literature's greatest opening paragraphs that will dazzle you. The opening paragraph of a book is the author's first chance to grab the editor's attention, hopefully leading to grabbing the ... | Csadlaoqmhx (article) | Mhlugon.