Best opening lines in books - With this opening line, Austen lets us know we’ve entered a world where marriage and money are matters of great urgency. We also get the sense she’ll be making fun of that world. The Thinker. Some of the best first lines of books are statements of theme. But, like, beautifully written statements of them. Not just “Love conquers all.”

 
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.. Where to watch tv shows free

12 Breathtaking First Lines in YA. “The demon exploded in a shower of ichor and guts.”. – CLOCKWORK ANGEL by Cassandra Clare. “On the day Emma Carstairs’s parents were killed, the weather was perfect.”. – CITY OF HEAVENLY FIRE by Cassandra Clare. “On the second Sabbat of Twelfthmoon, in the city of Weep, a girl fell from the sky ...Sep 21, 2016 · I’ll show you. Following are what I consider to be 25 of the best opening lines in literature, in no particular order: 1) “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” – 1984 by George Orwell. 2) “Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can’t be sure.”. – The Stranger by Albert Camus. 3) “It was ... 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 ....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.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 ...Open Library is an open, editable library catalog, building towards a web page for every book ever published. Read, borrow, and discover more than 3M books for free. ... Keep Track of your Favorite Books. Organize your Books using Lists & the Reading Log. Try the virtual Library Explorer. Digital shelves organized like a physical library. Chosen by: Miriam González Durántez. “Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends. The question of self-pity.”. The Year Of Magical ... 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 ...In today’s digital age, the internet has opened up a world of possibilities for children’s literature. With just a few clicks, kids can access an extensive library of free books on...This marks my third compilation of the best opening lines of the year, and I’m hoping to make this an annual tradition. Let’s jump right in. In a 2013 interview with Joe Fassler of The Atlantic magazine, Stephen King said: An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here.All the Most Famous Last Lines of Books. “He loved Big Brother.” – 1984 by George Orwell. “I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can’t stand it. I been there before.”. – Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.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….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, ...An Ember In The Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. First Line: "My big brother reaches home in the dark hours before dawn, when even ghosts take their rest." Named one of the best YA novels of 2015, it's ...1. “Call Me Ishmael.”. – Moby Dick, Herman Melville. This is perhaps the most iconic non-crappy opening line in history. While it doesn’t tell you anything about Captain Ahab and the whale, it still paints an intriguing picture.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.”.Here are some great examples that you can share with your kids. “It was just another regular day in Possum Trot.” (Opening line from Raising Sweetness, written by Diane Stanley) It suggests an old-timey setting in a very small town, and maybe a not-all-together serious tone, too. “There’s a very best time of day on Church Street.Fox Searchlight. — Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews. 4. "Mother died today." — The Stranger by Albert Camus. 5. "It was a pleasure to burn." — Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. 6.'The King is dead. Long live the Queen.' The announcer's voice crackles from the wireless …Best First Lines Books Showing 1-50 of 131 Fahrenheit 451 (Kindle Edition) by. Ray Bradbury (shelved 5 times as best-first-lines) avg rating 3.97 — 2,402,694 …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.” – ...Whether you prefer the convenience of an electric can opener or you’re perfectly fine with the simplicity of manual models, a can opener is an indispensable kitchen tool you can’t ...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 ...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 ...ADMIN MOD. What is the best opening line in a fantasy book? My person favorite is from "Sins of Empire" by Brian McClellan. "Privileged Robson paused with one foot on the muddy highway and the other on the step of his carriage, his hawkish nose pointed into the hot wind of the Fatrastan countryside."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.Browse through the subreddit r/books and discover the most memorable opening lines in literature, from The Book Thief to The Gunslinger. … 1. “Call Me Ishmael.”. – Moby Dick, Herman Melville. This is perhaps the most iconic non-crappy opening line in history. While it doesn’t tell you anything about Captain Ahab and the whale, it still paints an intriguing picture. Feb 11, 2022 · Greatest opening movie lines. 1. Goodfellas. “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.”. 2. Patton. "Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country." 3. 8. My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent. The old house hunkers on its hill, all peeling white paint, bay windows, and spindled wooden railings overgrown with climbing roses and poison oak. Decay ...Barry Lancet’s latest Jim Brodie mystery-thriller, PACIFIC BURN (Simon & Schuster Feb. 9, 2016), opens with the line“The phone call came far too early to herald anything good.”The first book in the series, JAPANTOWN, won the Barry Award for “Best First Novel,” and the second, TOKYO KILL, was a finalist for a Shamus Award for “Best P.I. Novel of the Year.”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.Best Opening Lines: The Winner ... There, we're all done. If I must pick a winner, I'll go for: 'What do you pack when you have four minutes to leave your husband ...Every year, the announcement of Bulwer-Lytton Prize is a gift from bad writing heaven. Inspired by novelist and playwright Edward George Bulwer-Lytton’s famous “it was a dark and stormy night” opener, the contest asks writers to submit an opening sentence for the “worst of all possible novels” — although Fifty Shades of Grey has already been written.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. The 11 Best First Lines of This Fall's New Books. From the painfully funny to the gorgeously melancholy. By. David Canfield. David Canfield. David Canfield is a Staff Editor. He oversees the ...A quote from Ursula Le Guin: "First sentences are the doors to other worlds." In the hands of our best writers, opening lines can make you fall in love with the book right away, start the story off like a gun, set the tone, and even hint at what's to come. In this list, we've chosen 15 of the best first lines in fiction.Sep 21, 2016 · I’ll show you. Following are what I consider to be 25 of the best opening lines in literature, in no particular order: 1) “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” – 1984 by George Orwell. 2) “Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can’t be sure.”. – The Stranger by Albert Camus. 3) “It was ... If you own a piece of land, it’s important to know exactly where your property lines are located. This information can help you avoid disputes with neighbors and ensure that you’re...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.”.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.The List of the 15 Most Famous First Lines from Classic Books. 1. Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen (1813) “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”. The opening line of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” introduces the theme of marriage and social ...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.So many classics have become synonymous with their beginnings—and for good reason. Who could ever forget Charles Dickens’ opener in A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”. Or what about Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”.Great Circle. by Maggie Shipstead. 4.4 out of 5 stars ; Deacon King Kong. by James McBride. 4.5 out of 5 stars ; The Sympathizer. by Viet Thanh Nguyen. 4.3 out of ...Best First Lines . I'm working on a project making posters for my father's used bookstore. I'm thinking of using the opening line or paragraph from books along with an illustration. Does anyone have any suggestions for opening lines/paragraphs to use, something that has struck you or is just a really awesome line. ...Jan 27, 2016 · 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. If you own a piece of land, it’s important to know exactly where your property lines are located. This information can help you avoid disputes with neighbors and ensure that you’re...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’, … 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. All the Most Famous Last Lines of Books. “He loved Big Brother.” – 1984 by George Orwell. “I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can’t stand it. I been there before.”. – Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.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 ...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 …Aug 23, 2021 · 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.”. 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 …Fox Searchlight. — Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews. 4. "Mother died today." — The Stranger by Albert Camus. 5. "It was a pleasure to burn." — Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. 6.Kevin Carr, relationship expert and cast member of the VH1 television show Caught in the Act: Unfaithful, says you want to do three things with your opening line: Capture the immediate attention of the person you matched with. Show a glimpse of your personality. Elicit a favorable response. This line achieves all three goals by showing that you ...– 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 …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.The opening lines of Maggie Blue and the White Crow, my second middle-grade novel (and the second in the trilogy started by Maggie Blue and the Dark World ), go thus: The blue wren was poised on a branch, so light she swayed with it in the breeze that tried and failed to pierce the late June heat. She was watching the girl, as she had watched ...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. Especially followed up by the first secret meeting. The chase for Carcer that leads up the events of Night Watch is very cool. It's one of the Witches (pretty sure its Wyrd Sisters) books that starts off with a great send up of the witches scene in Macbeth. Oh, the introduction of Moist Von Lipwig up through his first conversation with Vetinari.10 Best Opening Lines in Fantasy Books. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea By Jules Verne. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. A Game of Thrones by George by R.R. Martin. The Princess Bride by William Goldman.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 ...1. Perfect First Lines Are Vivid. Here's the line from Ulrica Hume's “Poppies” that caught my attention. I was born upside down, the umbilical cord looped twice around my neck. It's a simple sentence, but I love it. “Born upside down.”. There's something at once whimsical and perilous and messy about that image.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 …In Stock Online. Best “I don’t know whether to laugh or feel really, really sad” lines: “The best day of my life happened when I was five and almost died at Disney World. I’m sixteen now, so you can imagine that’s left me with quite a few days of major suckage.”. – Going Bovine, by Libba Bray. Paperback $12.99.Chapter 1: In which a scientist visits hell and a deal is struck. — Johannes Cabal the Necromancer. Jonathan L. Howard. The condemned cell stank of cats. — Johannes Cabal the Detective. Jonathan L. Howard. Chapter 1: In which the Fear Institute visits and Cabal is confronted by the police.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 …Here are 10 such powerful opening lines I’ve come across: 10. “He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.”-. The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway. About the author: Hemingway had lived life to the fullest.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 …Aug 31, 2018 · Gideon the Ninth. By Tasmyn Muir. Similar to All Systems Red, the opening line of Gideon the Ninth combines traditional sci-fi/ fantasy staples with a seemingly out-of-place object—dirty magazines. It bends the genre with a weird new. The first line helps sum up this book, which features badass lesbian necromancers in space. Bottom Line Books accepts returns of opened or unopened books. Customers should mail books to be returned to 1 Returns Way, Des Moines, IA 50982. Bottom Line provides a return ship...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.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.May 15, 2018 · 3. Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood. “Time is not a line but a dimension, like the dimensions of space.”. 4. Blue Nights by Joan Didion. “In certain latitudes there comes a span of time approaching and following the summer solstice, some weeks in all, when the twilights turn long and blue.”. 5. 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 …Learn how to captivate readers from the first few lines of your book with these 25 examples of opening lines from famous novels. Discover the stories behind the po…The opening lines of Maggie Blue and the White Crow, my second middle-grade novel (and the second in the trilogy started by Maggie Blue and the Dark World ), go thus: The blue wren was poised on a branch, so light she swayed with it in the breeze that tried and failed to pierce the late June heat. She was watching the girl, as she had watched ...According to Stylist, here are the best opening lines from children's books. Table of contents: Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll. Peter Pan, J. M. Barrie. Charlotte's Web, E.B. White. The Story of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, Jon Scieszka. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J. K. Rowling. 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. Mar 16, 2021 · 12 powerful first lines from YA books that promise a great read. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) Those first few words are everything. As Brandon Sanderson has taught (and many others have said), the beginning of a book is where the author and the reader come into an agreement. The author makes a promise. “Are you a camera? Because every time I look at you I smile.” Some people may find this flattering while others will find it more cringe-worthy. Pickup lines have been around for d... I’m definitely going to read this book. Below are fifty great opening lines for you to ponder. We’d love to know if any of these first lines are enough to pique your interest to read the full book. Let us know in the comments section at the bottom of the page. 50 of the most impactful opening sentences in literature: Metamorphosis by Kafka: Using a prismatic compass first entails selecting the bearing and opening its lid, then folding it flat. Next, undo the curled knob, and move the bearing to the top. This is follow...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.”.It was a queer sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York. — Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar (1963) When a book's first line is great, that bodes well for the story. …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.

After an online debate with Brian Moore over the opening sentence of 'A Tale of Two Cities' (best of lines, worst of lines), which I would have rejected for my Top 10 First sentences of novels .... Karr alarm system

best opening lines in books

A sentimental story from the diary of a dreamer. FIRST NIGHT It was a wonderful night, such a night as is only possible when we are young, dear reader. The sky was so starry, so bright that, looking at it, one could not help asking oneself whether ill-humoured and capricious people could live under such a sky. 2. Chosen by: Miriam González Durántez. “Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends. The question of self-pity.”. The Year Of Magical ... 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.”. The Best Opening Lines For Tinder In 2024. 1. “I’ve been looking at your photos for 10 minutes, and I still can’t find anything to say except wow.”. When it comes to compliments, sincerity is important. This line doesn’t just flatter; it shows that you’re genuinely impressed.Apr 5, 2023 · 8. My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent. The old house hunkers on its hill, all peeling white paint, bay windows, and spindled wooden railings overgrown with climbing roses and poison oak. Decay ... Jul 24, 2011 ... Below you will find a few opening lines from a few YA paranormal romance novels. ... I think Personal Demons has one of the best opening lines ... 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 ... 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 ... Here, we delve into ten of the most compelling opening lines from mystery novels, each setting the stage for the riveting narrative that unfolds. "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." - '1984' by George Orwell. Orwell's dystopian masterpiece doesn't fit the traditional mystery genre, but the opening line ...Dec 3, 2019 · A list of books with memorable and captivating first lines, from classics to contemporary novels. Read why these lines are so effective and how they draw readers into the stories. J.K. Rowling wrote all these opening sentences from Harry Potter books , and she deserves a real big thank you for the world of Potter and Hogwarts and "accio." Maybe you like the first line of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which is full of Tom Riddle lore. Maybe you like the one about the muggle Prime Minister (barf).They can be a way to show the reader the mood of a story. If you want to start a story, you can use a simple sentence. You can also use a question or an inspirational quote. In this post, we have listed over 150 story starters to get your story started with a bang! A great way to use these story starters is at the start of the Finish The Story ....

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