Every famous novel began with a memorable first line. The following are the top ten most famous "first lines" in history.
10 Best First Lines from Novels
1. Call me Ishmael. —Herman Melville, Moby-Dick (1851)
2. 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 (1813)
3. A screaming comes across the sky. —Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow (1973)
4. Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. —Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967; trans. Gregory Rabassa)
5. Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. —Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (1955)
6. Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. —Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina (1877; trans. Constance Garnett)
7. riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs. —James Joyce, Finnegans Wake (1939)
8. It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. —George Orwell, 1984 (1949)
9. 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. —Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859)
10. I am an invisible man. —Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)
With any piece of writing, the first line should capture your reader's attention. We are all working on our college essays, a very important piece of writing. So think about your opening sentence very carefully.
Now, I'd like you to pick up your favorite novel or short story and in the comment section to this blog posting, write the first line to that piece of fiction. Feel free to comment on each other's first lines. Which ones "hooked" you? What makes them memorable?
Enjoy!
It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York. - The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (1963)
ReplyDeleteI was gonna do this one too lols
DeleteWhere's Papa going with that ax?-- You know what (Charlotte's Web)
ReplyDeleteLoved Charlotte's Web
DeleteOne of my favs!
Deletelol
Deletelove this book!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteinspirational
DeleteI am Sam
ReplyDelete- Green Eggs and Ham by Doctor Suess
Throwback Thursday!
DeleteThe boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way towards the lagoon. -Lord of The Flies (1954)
ReplyDeleteGood book
Delete"It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to be frightened."- The Giver
ReplyDeleteI remember this book! I liked it a lot!
DeleteI write this sitting in the kitchen sink. —Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle (1948)
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting way to start a book!
Delete"Torak woke with a jolt from a sleep he'd never meant to have" -Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver
ReplyDeleteI am here but "I" am not here, I am writing but "I" am not writing, inside of me in the heart cave is a mantra going on that reminds me who I really am over and over again, and in this inner place, I am. - Be Here Now by Ram Dass
ReplyDeleteThis is very deep and definitely grabs my attention. It makes me want to read more!
DeleteThe best day of my life happened when I was five and almost died at Disney World.
ReplyDeleteGoing Bovine by Libba Bray
That's pretty blunt/straight forward....
Delete"When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold. My fingers stretch out, seeking Prim's warmth but finding only the rough canvas cover of the mattress. She must have had bad dreams and climbed in with our mother. Of course she did. This is the day of the reaping."-The Hunger Games
ReplyDelete"First the colors.
ReplyDeleteThen the humans.
That's usually how I see things.
Or at least, how I try.
-The Book Thief
An amazing book with an even more amazing perspective for narration. The way Death talks from first person in such an emotionally driven and cerebral way makes one think from a sort of alien, objective point of view.
Delete"On the first weekend in December there must have been twenty or twenty-five boats getting ready to leave."
ReplyDelete---Farewell To Manzanar By Jeanne Wakatsuki
"Benny thought, I'm going to die. The hundred zombies chasing him all seemed to agree." --Flesh & Bone by Jonathan Maberry
ReplyDeleteDefinitely catches the reader's attention.
Delete"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 going into it, if you want to know the truth." -Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
ReplyDeletelegit
DeleteThere wasn't any moon, and Harold needed a moon for a walk in the moonlight. - Harold and Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
ReplyDelete"Jane checked her watch as she rushed out of the elevator, into the world of soft lighting and trickling waterfalls" -L.A. Candy
ReplyDelete"It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to be
ReplyDeletefrightened." - The Giver
August 25, 1991
ReplyDeleteDear Friend,
I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand and didn't try to sleep with that person at that party even though you could have. Please don't try to figure out who she is because then you might figure out who I am, and I really don't want you to do that. I will call people by different names or generic names because I don't want you to find me.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Love that book
Delete"When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow." To Kill a Mockingbird.
ReplyDeleteBenny Imura Couldn't Hold a Job, So He Took To Killing - Rot & Ruin
ReplyDeleteTaking care a white babies, that's what I do, along with all the cooking and the cleaning. - The Help
ReplyDelete"At night I would lie in bed ans watch the show, how bees squeezed through the cracks of my bedroom wall and flew circles around the room" - The Secret Life of Bees
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to imagine life before Candy. Sometimes I sit here for hours, staring into the past, trying to remember what it was life, but I never seem to get very far. - Candy by Kevin Brooks
ReplyDeleteThe driver let me off on Lamaratine, on the odd side of the street. - Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves.
ReplyDelete'I do not like green eggs and ham I do not like them Sam-I-Am.'
ReplyDelete- Green Eggs and Ham by Doctor Suess
"My mother drove me to the airport with the windows rolled down."
ReplyDelete- Twilight by Stephenie Meyer