Best opening lines in a book

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Peanutmeister
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Re: Best opening lines in a book

Post by Peanutmeister »

"The first time I met her was at the tail end of one of those endless weekday nights you could only have at a school like Sherringford."

Brittany Cavallaro, A Study In Charlotte
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Tempest007
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Post by Tempest007 »

When I was nine years old, I hid under a table and heard my sister kill a king.
Frances Mary Hendry, Quest For A Maid
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Kansas City Teacher
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Post by Kansas City Teacher »

"People ask me why I did it. They want to know why I chose to risk my life so many times, why, at age forty-four, after living a comfortable, safe life as a financial planner, I
suddenly declared myself a mountain climber and took on the highest summit of each continent—the Seven Summits. Only sixty-five Americans have survived this quest. I am
the sixty-fifth."

This is from the Altitude Journals by David J. Mauro. Very inspiring book!
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magnoparisi
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Post by magnoparisi »

“When Mr Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventyifirst birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.”
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkein
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magnoparisi
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Post by magnoparisi »

"You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings."
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
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magnoparisi
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Post by magnoparisi »

"The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn."
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
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magnoparisi
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Post by magnoparisi »

Amergo Bonasera sat in New York Criminal Court Number 3 and waited for justice; vengeance on the men who had so cruelly hurt his daughter, who had tried to dishonor her.
The Godfather, Mario Puzo
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magnoparisi
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Post by magnoparisi »

“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 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 to turn up the radio, ‘Be My Baby’ on WYNN, and the driver, black, not American, does so.”
American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
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magnoparisi
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Post by magnoparisi »

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. To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born (as I have been informed and believe) on a Friday, at twelve o’clock at night. It was remarked that the clock began to strike, and I began to cry, simultaneously.’
‘David Copperfield’, Charles Dickens (1849)
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magnoparisi
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Post by magnoparisi »

"Somewhere in la Mancha, in a place whose name I do not care to remember, a gentleman lived not long ago, one of those who has a lance and ancient shield on a shelf and keeps a skinny nag and a greyhound for racing."
Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605)
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magnoparisi
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Post by magnoparisi »

"Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress."
George Eliot, Middlemarch (1872)
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Post by Debottam_55 »

Mine would be

"It began as a mistake"
Post Office by Charles Bukowski.

This line has a sense of humour and suspense. Begs the question " what began as a mistake?"
"What matters most is how well you walk through the fire" - Charles Bukowski
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Post by LinaMueller »

In the corner of a first-class smoking carriage, Mr. Justice Wargrave, lately retired from the bench, puffed at a cigar and ran an interested eye through the political news in the Times.
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.
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Post by Tera_26 »

It was inevitable: the smell of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of love
displeased
Love in the times of cholera
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Devika menon
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Post by Devika menon »

'All children, except one, grow up.'
- Peter Pan by J.M Barrie
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