What do you consider the best opening sentence from a book?

[OverMyHead]

Whether it's fiction or non-fiction?

[Drakon]

It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times.

[Kaboom]

it was the best of times it was the worst of times.

[Drakon]

Oh man, that was rich. It couldn't have been timed better.

[Mr. Credible]

i really like the first line from "the rules of attraction" by brett easton ellis... it started right in the middle of a sentence, in the middle of a story. it was jarring, and pretty brilliant.

[OverMyHead]

uh.. is that the quote?

[Franklin Richards]

Call me, Ishmael.


:thing: :doom: :thing:

[OverMyHead]

what book is that?

Please post the book so others will know.

[rdh007]

"In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit..."

[rdh007]

what book is that?

Please post the book so others will know.
http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/images/movie/large/Moby_Dick_(1998).jpg

[OverMyHead]

I know that's the Hobbit, cause it says Hobbit in the opening sentence, lmao.

I was talking to Richards.

[Franklin Richards]

"Call me Ishmael."

Moby Dick


:thing: :doom: :thing:

[black_dust]

She took off all her wet clothes and hung them out to dry suddley the door bell rang.

[OverMyHead]

"Call me Ishmael."

Moby Dick


:thing: :doom: :thing:

Blah.

Moby Dick sucked.

[OverMyHead]

She took off all her wet clothes and hung them out to dry suddley the door bell rang.

suddley, eh?

This is probably the worst opening ever, and the author needs to be banned. :trans:

[black_dust]

suddley, eh?

This is probably the worst opening ever, and the author needs to be banned. :trans:

Someone got out the wrong side of the bed and hasnt seen the multi quote option yet.

[spdrknight]

"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."

My favorite book series, and the very first Stephen King book I read. It changed my life.

[rdh007]

I know that's the Hobbit, cause it says Hobbit in the opening sentence, lmao.

I was talking to Richards.

That's why I posted the pic of Moby Dick. :confused:

[the_ultimate_evil]

"i cant believe i lost my f**king ear bang bang"

have a nice day-mick foley

[Hush]

"Nick Naylor had been called many things since becomming chief spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, but until now no one had actually compared him to Satan."

Thank You For Smoking--- Christopher Buckley. This an amazing book and amazing movie.

[ultimatefan]

I love the beginning of Anna Karenina: "all happy families are the same, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way".

The beginning of Chronicles of a Death Foretold is great too, "the day he was going to be killed", the book follows a character all through the day that he´s going to be killed, and you know it´s gonna happen right from the start, and even so it´s a total page-turner.

[ComicChick]

it was the best of times it was the worst of times.

not many know this, but that's not the entire opening sentence to A Tale of Two Cities.

The opening sentence is really the length of a paragraph.

One of the more recent books I've read was The Lovely Bones. The first line is My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie.

[JLBats]

The opening sentence of Casino Royale.

[mightiest_mortal]

opening line from the last book i read....
"It was springtime. Time for Meg to start her vegetable garden"

[Kaboom]

Oh man, that was rich. It couldn't have been timed better.

it was pretty sweet.

The opening sentence of Casino Royale.


which would be what?

[Strange]

More like a first paragraph but it is great....


We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like “I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive...” And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming: “Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?”

[JLBats]

it was pretty sweet.




which would be what?

The one about something or other.

[Abaddon]

"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect."

[Kaboom]

"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect."

i dont get the love for the metamorphosis

[Eros]

Kaboom

[JLBats]

"As I awoke from my slumber, I slowly began to realize that I had been castrated while I slept."

An Autobiography By Abaddon

[Kaboom]

Kaboom

yes?

[mightiest_mortal]

"As I awoke from my slumber, I slowly began to realize that I had been castrated while I slept."

An Autobiography By Abaddon

ROFL


"It all started back when I was born in.. WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT JESSICA ALBA?? SHE IS NOT A WHORE YOU £@$@%$%£@£%$"

An Autobiography By JAL

[Eros]

yes?

just Kaboom.

[Kaboom]

just Kaboom.
hmmmm....ok

[Abaddon]

i dont get the love for the metamorphosis

I just like the opening line. The story was a little "meh"

"As I awoke from my slumber, I slowly began to realize that I had been castrated while I slept."

An Autobiography By Abaddon

You go straight to hell, you little ****er!!:cmad: :cmad:

[Archangel]

"If you're going to read this, don't bother."

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

[JLBats]

I just like the opening line. The story was a little "meh"



You go straight to hell, you little ****er!!:cmad: :cmad:

Still bitter that you never made it to number 1 on the bestseller lists?:csad:

[Abaddon]

Still bitter that you never made it to number 1 on the bestseller lists?:csad:

I was trying to be like that guy on Oprah.:csad:

[muertevilla]

Last night i dreamt i went to Manderly again. - Rebecca

[muertevilla]

More like a first paragraph but it is great....


We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like “I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive...” And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming: “Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?”

:up: fear and loathing

[ComicChick]

My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. In newspaper photos of missing girls from the seventies, most looked like me: white girls with mousy brown hair. This was before kids of all races and genders started appearing on milk cartons or in the daily mail. It was still back when people believed things like that didn't happen.

[Abaddon]

The beginning of Chronicles of a Death Foretold is great too, "the day he was going to be killed", the book follows a character all through the day that he´s going to be killed, and you know it´s gonna happen right from the start, and even so it´s a total page-turner.

Good and pretty violent.:up:

[Jerry]

More like a first paragraph but it is great....


We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like “I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive...” And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming: “Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?”

That is Johnny Depp's best performance in his career. I don't think anything he will do can top his performance as Hunter S. Thompson.

[Spider-Man Luvr28]

not many know this, but that's not the entire opening sentence to A Tale of Two Cities.

The opening sentence is really the length of a paragraph.

One of the more recent books I've read was The Lovely Bones. The first line is My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie.

:heart: that book!:up:

[ComicChick]

Good and pretty violent.:up:

i read Chronicle in AP Eng 12th grade, and I don't remember much, but I don't think I care for it to much.

The only thing that pops to mind when I think of that book is

intestines.

^^^ my very first spoiler tag ever :woot:

[Abaddon]

i read Chronicle in AP Eng 12th grade, and I don't remember much, but I don't think I care for it to much.

The only thing that pops to mind when I think of that book is

intestines.

^^^ my very first spoiler tag ever :woot:

It was fairly depressing.

[ComicChick]

:heart: that book!:up:

which one, ATo2C or Lovely Bones?

I loved Lovely Bones, but it was so hard for me to finish reading it. I read it too soon after the death of my nephew so that was constantly on my mind while reading it.

ATo2C is great too, Book the First is hard to get through cuz it was kinda boring but the rest of the book is really good. I liked how the plot points came together.

[mierde]

i read Chronicle in AP Eng 12th grade, and I don't remember much, but I don't think I care for it to much.

The only thing that pops to mind when I think of that book is

intestines.

^^^ my very first spoiler tag ever :woot:

congrats :yay:

"My father's family name being Pirrip, and my christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or explicit than Pip. So I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip."

Great Expectations.

[Superman]

"Jack Torrance thought: Officious little prick."

Stephen King's "The Shining"

:woot:

[ComicChick]

congrats :yay:

"My father's family name being Pirrip, and my christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or explicit than Pip. So I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip."

Great Expectations.

say that 5 times fast lol

[Kritish]

"Call me Ishmael."

Moby Dick


:thing: :doom: :thing:

Agreed :yay:

[imaperson2]

sucks that i dont have the book with me but the opening sentence for "Cruddy"

[theShape]

"The Opera ghost really existed."

The Phantom of the Opera.

[heypapajinx]

“The man who makes a beast of himself takes the pain out of being a man” Hunter S. Thompson-Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas

[cryptic name]

"ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE is scrawled in blood red lettering on the side of The Chemical Bank near the corner of Eleventh and First and it is in print large enough to be seen from the backseat of the cab as it lurches forward in the traffic leaving Wall Street and just as Timothy Price notices the words a bus pulls up, the advertisement for Les Miserables on its side blocking his view, but Price who is with Pierce & Pierce and twenty-six doesn't seem to care because he tells the driver he will give him five dollars if he turns up the radio, "Be My Baby" on WYNN, and the driver, black, not American, does so."
American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis. I love it, not only is it completely ridiculous, but that's all one sentence, baby.

[mierde]

say that 5 times fast lol

exactly :oldrazz:

[OverMyHead]

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

[Secret_Riddle]

The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive.

Yupp. I know.

[redmarvel]

"Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun..."

- Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[BRUTAL]

"Dear Penthouse, Today I whil..."

wait... where am I?

[Immortalfire]

"It was a dark and stormy night"

~ A Wrinkle In Time

[comicgirl]

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderlay again.

- Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

[Immortalfire]

ROFL


"It all started back when I was born in.. WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT JESSICA ALBA?? SHE IS NOT A WHORE YOU £@$@%$%£@£%$"

An Autobiography By JAL

Yahahahahaha :woot:

[Honey Vibe]

"The Omniscient Eye can light up any moment to take your confusions and your little schemes by surprise or to tear you away from your shameful conspiracies."

-- Tahar Djaout, The Last Summer of Reason

[CyberFaust]

Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the
western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.

[DBella]

it was the best of times it was the worst of times.
Ahh... The Tale of Two Cities. Definitely one of my favorites. I like it more when it's quoted in full:

"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

Other favorites:

"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." J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." - Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina

"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins." Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita

"There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it." C.S. Lewis' The Voyage of the Dawn Trader

These are the only ones I can remember for now.