This summer WORLD magazine (my only news source) asked readers to send in their favourite last lines of books so that they could print them in an upcoming issue. I was thinking about sending something in, but my favourite book ending of all time ('"Well, I'm back," he said' - last line of The Return of the King) was used as an example, and I couldn't think of anything better than that. I kept on thinking of good first lines, though.
I can remember the first and last sentences of books, especially good ones. Sometimes, when I'm trying to decide whether or not to read a book, I'll look at the first sentence, flip to the last sentence, and then see if I'm intrigued or not. Really good beginnings and endings can stay in my mind for a long time, but sometimes it's my first impression of a book that stays with me the longest.
So, just for fun, I've decided to hold a little contest of my own. What are some of your favourite book beginnings? If you can think of any, please share them in the comments section. They can be single sentences or whole paragraphs, and they can be from fiction or non-fiction books. I'll post my favourite submissions in future blog entries. Or, if there are only two or three submissions, maybe I'll post all of them. 
I look forward to reading some great opening lines!
Comments
Oct. 28, 2009 - Ooooh
Posted by Savannah
This is a great idea, Stephanie! I'm going to have to peruse some of my favorite titles to see what I can find...!!
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Nov. 3, 2009 - Quote
Posted by LadyMaie
"There are dragons in the twins' vegetable garden."
I LOVE that quote! It comes from Madeleine L'Engle's second book in the Time Quartet: A Wind in the Door. While I don't love it as much as the first book (A Wrinkle in Time), that opening line immediately caught me.
Here's another good one. I haven't actually read the book, so I can't recommend it, but I love this line:
"Once upon a time, in a faraway kingdom, there lived an old man and his wife. They had no children, and the old man prayed every day that he and his wife would have a son.
This story has absolutely nothing to do with them."
Hero, Second-Class, by Mitchell Bonds
God bless--this is fun!
~LM
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Nov. 5, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Lucy
OooOh, good idea! Here are a few of my favorites.
"Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London because of the air-raids..." ~The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." ~Pride and Prejudice
"If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book. In this book, not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning and very few happy things in the middle." ~ Series of Unfortunate Events, the Bad Beginning
"Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the cheif mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change for anything he chose to put his hand to.
Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail." ~A Christmas Carol
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Nov. 8, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by LadyMaie
“No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be a heroine."
~Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen
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