OT: Favorite opening line from a novel

[rugbymate]

" In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" Genesis 1:1

Not that I necessary;y believe it but it is one very powerful sentence.

 

[ed4ourgirls]

"It was a dark and stormy night." - Snoopy's "It Was A Dark And Stormy Night"; Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971

Actually, that is part of the opening line from a novel called "Paul Clifford" by the English novelist Edward
Bulwer-Litton.

The line has become a literary cliche, and inspired the Bulwer-Litton Fiction Contest, an annual contest
sponsored by the San Jose State English Department, in which contestants are invited to compose the
worst opening line that they can think of. The prize for winning is "a pittance". Notable, but not quite
bad enough entries are awarded a Dishonorable Mention.

 

[Plebe]

"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 (translated by Gregory Rabassa)

 

[Huskee11]

Great thread.

"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

 

[EricLA]

“Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin.” Winnie the Pooh

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.” The Hobbit...

 

[Ron and Vida]

James Conrad Heart of Darkness
The Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest. The flood had been made, the wind was nearly calm, and being bound down the river, the only thing for it was to come to and wait for the turn of the tide...

 

[Monte]

"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

 

[RockyMTblue2]

An update from Paul Clifford:
"It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."

Oh, for want of a dog barking, off in the distance, mournfully!

 

[Hope]

"I met her in a bar and knew I was in trouble."

Los Angeles Without a Map
Richard Rayner

 

[rvwsleep]

Since "David Copperfield" was mentioned previously, I couldn't resist.

"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."

The original CD.

 

[Atleast5char]

"The primroses were over."

Richard Adams, Watership Down

 

[connie]

"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul."

Lolita
Vladimir Nabokov

In truth, the opening line is in the forward: " "Lolita, or the Confession of a White Widowed Male," such were the two titles under which the writer of the present note received the strange pages it preambulates. "

But you are right that the words you quote are almost always credited as the opening lines. What an extraordinary work, for oh at least 10 or 15 reasons. Absolutely without question in my top 10 personal favorite all-time. Maybe number 1.

 

[bags27]

" In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" Genesis 1:1

Not that I necessary;y believe it but it is one very powerful sentence.

I like that you think that the quotation begins a novel. Definition: "a fictitious prose narrative of book length, typically representing character and action with some degree of realism." . That is a joke, not a religious statement!

 

[bags27]

Great thread.

"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Now that is a great, great, great novel!

 

[connie]

I like that you think that the quotation begins a novel. Definition: "a fictitious prose narrative of book length, typically representing character and action with some degree of realism." . That is a joke, not a religious statement!

This reminds me of a line in a Woody Allen movie (can't remember which one). Something about so-and-so rejecting Christianity because he found the plot of the Bible implausible and the main character not credible (?)

 

[trb123]

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."

Rebecca
Daphne du Maurier

 

[trb123]

In truth, the opening line is in the forward: " "Lolita, or the Confession of a White Widowed Male," such were the two titles under which the writer of the present note received the strange pages it preambulates. "

But you are right that the words you quote are almost always credited as the opening lines. What an extraordinary work, for oh at least 10 or 15 reasons. Absolutely without question in my top 10 personal favorite all-time. Maybe number 1.

Not terribly interested in forewords, prefaces etc with occasional exceptions. The first chapter starts with the quote.

 

[JordyG]

Two more opening lines that changed my perspective on literature:

"When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton".

Fellowship of the Ring
J.R.R, Tolkien.

"The Galactic Empire was dying".

Foundation and Empire
Issac Asimov.

 

[trb123]

First two sentences (stretching it a bit) from The Return of the native, one of my favorite novels by Thomas Hardy:

"A Saturday afternoon in November was approaching the time of twilight, and the vast tract of unenclosed wild known as Egdon Heath embrowned itself moment by moment. Overhead the hollow stretch of whitish cloud shutting out the sky was as a tent which had the whole heath for its floor."

Some of you may have a preference for the first sentence from the preface:

"The date at which the following events are assumed to have occurred may be set down as between 1840 and 1850, when the old watering place herein called “Budmouth” still retained sufficient afterglow from its Georgian gaiety and prestige to lend it an absorbing attractiveness to the romantic and imaginative soul of a lonely dweller inland."

It is nearly as good as the first sentence in Nabokov's foreword to Lolita.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away............

Star Wars - RETURN OF THE JEDI
by James Kahn & George Lucas

 

[rugbymate]

I like that you think that the quotation begins a novel. Definition: "a fictitious prose narrative of book length, typically representing character and action with some degree of realism." . That is a joke, not a religious statement!

The modifier of "degree of realism" is some....a word that you can drive a truck through...so , yes, I believe the Bible to have novel qualities ...,,(smiley face)

 

[CL82]

“Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin.” Winnie the Pooh

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.” The Hobbit...

I thought about going with the Hobbit as my entry. Tolkien establishes that we are in another world and sets the tone for the novel.

I've said this elsewhere on the BY but I was disappointed that the Hobbit movie(s) failed to honor this tone and instead tried to be Lord of the Rings light. They are two very different stories in tone and length for that matter. The Hobbit would have been better told if it were no more than two movies and kept the whimsical tone of the original. Chris Columbus (the director of the first two Harry Potters) would have been a better choice than Peter Jackson.

Finally, when you are making a long awaited movie about a beloved classic it is best not to create material out of whole cloth. It will likely alienate fans and break up the narrative.

/end rant

 

[Orangutan]

Went to my bookshelf last night. Turns out all my favorite novels have really boring first lines. So, per usual, I have nothing of value to contribute.

 

[chj001]

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."

Rebecca
Daphne du Maurier

One of only two that I know by heart, the other being "Call me . . ."
NO! Not . . . "Mr. Tibbs." "Call me Ishmael."

Rebecca is my all-time favorite Hitchcock movie, fairly faithful to the book, thanks to Selznik's reining in Hitch's instinct to rewrite the whole thing.