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Musing on a Monday: Memorable Openers
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I'm glad Rebecca reminded you! It's a lovely beginning.Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Tolstoy Anna Karenina
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
I couldn't remember the exact line from A Prayer for Owen Meany but I always thought it was interesting:
“I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice—not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany”
My aphasia is kicking up today (I'm losing words) ... I know these were significant... 1984 and the book about burning books.
Other than the famous Moby Dick and Tale of Two Cities, I don't remember any opening lines. I am not good at remembering any lines, even ones I really like. I always tell myself I need to start writing down my favorites lines but I never do.
OOH, excellent openers, NancyJ! @Jason - I know just how you feel - I was even given a cute little notebook specifically designed for noting down favorite lines from books you read -- and it sits blank.
This conversation is reminding me of my favourite mug - technically it's my husband's, since my mother gave it to him for Christmas one year, but he knows better than to try to use it: https://us.theliterarygiftcompany.com...
Nikki wrote: "This conversation is reminding me of my favourite mug - technically it's my husband's, since my mother gave it to him for Christmas one year, but he knows better than to try to use it: https://us.t..."I love it! I want it. I spotted these on your mug:
"It was a pleasure to burn" is the one I was thinking of earlier. Fahrenheit whatever.
"Marley was dead to begin with" I should have thought of that one. Christmas Carol
....I am drawing a blank-a total blank, but looking forward to seeing what they rest of you come up with!
That mug is so cool! Unfortunately I did not recognize most of those I could read.Now I am trying to remember the opening of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman...
My all-time favorite, the only opening line that grabbed me so much I had to immediately read the book:"I lost an arm on my last trip home."
--Kindred by Octavia Butler
A close second:
“Late one evening toward the end of March, a teenager picked up a double-barrelled shotgun, walked into the forest, put the gun to someone else’s forehead and pulled the trigger.”
--Beartown by Fredrik Backman
I thought of one and I did remember it mostly but looked it up to get it right.When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home. The Outsiders
I think Harlan Coben does really great first lines! On shelfari, there used to be a place you could type in the first line of a book, and I used to sometimes do that. Anyway, I commented on one of my Coben reviews about the first sentence in many of his books really drawing me in immediately!
Can't recall any off the top of my head, but I'm going to grab one off my shelf...
"Three days before her death, my mother told me -- these weren't her last words, but they were pretty close -- that my brother was still alive."
--Gone for Good / Harlan Coben
annapi wrote: "My all-time favorite, the only opening line that grabbed me so much I had to immediately read the book:"I lost an arm on my last trip home."
--Kindred by Octavia Butler
A close second:
“Late one..."
Wow, I think both of those are on my Trim list. I can see how they would pull you right in.
Jason wrote: "I thought of one and I did remember it mostly but looked it up to get it right.When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: ..."
I just wachted "The Outisders" movie on the weekend. First time I've watched it in years!
C. Thomas Howell starts by writing down (and narrating at the same time) that first line (and I said it right along!) I don't remember it from the book (though I've read it), but I saw the movie over and over and over when I was a teenager!
LibraryCin. I second Harlan Coben with catchy first sentences but not memeorable. I did buy The Stranger because i picked it up to read while my wife shopped. 2 chapters in and I needed to finish the story. Hes very captivating with his stories.
The only one I know by heart is the Anna Karenina/Tolstoy one NancyJ already mentioned. But as soon as I read what this discussion was about I knew I had to go grab Shantaram off my shelf because the opening paragraph is the sole reason I bought the book, though that was at least 10 years ago now and I still haven't read it. Gah!
"It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured. I realised, somehow, through the screaming in my mind, that even in that shackled, bloody helplessness, I was still free: free to hate the men who were torturing me, or to forgive them. It doesn't sound like much, I know. But in the flinch and bite of the chain, when it's all you've got, that freedom is a universe of possibility. And the choice you make, between hating and forgiving, can become the story of your life."
Tessa (FutureAuthor23) wrote: "The only one I know by heart is the Anna Karenina/Tolstoy one NancyJ already mentioned. But as soon as I read what this discussion was about I knew I had to go grab Shantaram off my shelf because..."
Wow, that is really powerful. Looking it up now for the tbr.
Wait, there are several - who is the author?
Found it.. Gregory David Roberts. Based on the love/hate reviews, and the first paragraph, it sounds like this would be a good book on kindle. You can look at the previous highlights and read the most gorgeous lines before deciding whether to read the whole LONG book.
“On a mountain above the clouds once lived a man who had been the gardener of the emperor of Japan.” ― Tan Twan Eng, The Garden of Evening Mists
"The Golem’s life began in the hold of a steamship."
--Wecker, Helene. The Golem and the Jinni
“At dusk they pour from the sky,”
― Anthony Doerr, All the Light We Cannot See
“While I was still in Amsterdam, I dreamed about my mother for the first time in years.”
― Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch
Jgrace wrote: "“ "The Golem’s life began in the hold of a steamship..."
Thanks for the head start on my March Trim book! I'm wondering if the Golem in this book is anything like the Golem in Lord of the Rings.
Sights Unseen by Kaye GibbonsHad I known my mother was being given electroconvulsive therapy while I was dressing for school on eight consecutive Monday mornings, I do not think I could have buttoned my blouses or tied my shoes or located my homework. I see myself fumbling with the snap on my skirt, trying to connect the sides, turning around in a circle like a cat chasing its tail. I was twelve, deemed too young to be told what was happening to her and in fact too innocent to surmise it.
Just grabbed me from the get go ....
Fantastic opening scene- I will never forget it, it just totally cracked me up and I had to know more. But I won’t tell it to you, because you have to experience it for yourself. It’s the first few pages and opening of Eight Hundred grapes. I just so enjoyed that book. Great opening!And… As I just commented a few days ago, I was so looking forward to the last girls of Paris, and I open it up and the first pages is a woman in 1946 was walking around New York doing the walk of shame. How can you not love that?
Theresa wrote: "We have a few interesting and even serious discussions going on, so I thought it was time for a bit of lightness. Plus NancyJ just reviewed a great book that triggered a perfect idea to muse about ..."Some first lines are memorable because the book that follows is iconic and everyone knows them, even if they haven't read the book. I recognize the first line of Anna Karenina even though I've never made it past the first 200 pages of the book.
I couldn't quote that first long sentence from A Prayer for Owen Meany but I do know that it reached out and grabbed me the first time I read the book. Cutting for Stone begins with a similar summarizing sentence. It's not surprising that Verghese cites Irving as an inspirational mentor.
When I can remember the first line of a well loved book, that single sentence can bring back the whole reading experience.
"The circus arrives without warning."
The Night Circus
"In a hole in the ground lived a hobbit"
The Hobbit or There and Back Again
Nikki wrote: "This conversation is reminding me of my favourite mug - technically it's my husband's, since my mother gave it to him for Christmas one year, but he knows better than to try to use it: https://us.t..."I love this!
“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.” ― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House
Theresa, like you I also am terrible at remembering things like this, but I am enjoying reading what everyone else is sharing.And I cosign anapi's choice of the opening for Beartown. Talk about a hook!
So many here are ones that pulled me in too! Of course, I just can't quote them. What's also interesting is when I remember -- and like - the first line of a book I did not like --as with Moby Dick. But then, that line is part of our language.
I finally had to look it up-because it was driving me mad-and someone here just read the book, and that is why I thought of itFromThe Color Purple ”You better not never tell nobody but God.”
"Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the same horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time."Their Eyes Were Watching God. Zora Neale Hurston
I have always read books as an escape, so until I joined Goodreads and an IRL book club I never have put much thought into the book/author. However I'm currently reading
and it made reference to this "Marley was dead, to begin with." which I had read in some of the comments. This made me look to see what was the first sentence and founding it to be catchy opener"I blame Charles Dickens for the death of my father."
Robin wrote: "I have always read books as an escape, so until I joined Goodreads and an IRL book club I never have put much thought into the book/author. However I'm currently reading [bookcover:This House is Ha..."That is sublime!
Robin wrote: "I have always read books as an escape, so until I joined Goodreads and an IRL book club I never have put much thought into the book/author. However I'm currently reading 
by Henry James.
Theresa wrote: "Robin wrote: "I have always read books as an escape, so until I joined Goodreads and an IRL book club I never have put much thought into the book/author. However I'm currently reading [bookcover:Th..."Added it to my list.
"Far Out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun."- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
Play Book Tag
Books mentioned in this topic
The Turn of the Screw (other topics)This House Is Haunted (other topics)
The Color Purple (other topics)
The Haunting of Hill House (other topics)
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Henry James (other topics)Kaye Gibbons (other topics)
What are some of the openers of books that stick in your mind? I'm rather boring on this because I just don't remember things like that all that accurately. Heck, I have trouble remembering complete titles! In truth, my memory isn't horrible -- I shock clients all the time with what details I remember on their legal matters. But remembering detail about something I've only read and not written somewhere at some point or deliberately memorized, not so much.
So what are some of my faves??
"Last night I dreamed of Manderley again." - of course, and NancyJ just reviewed Rebecca. Thanks, NancyJ for inspiring me!
"Call me Ishmael" - from a book I dislike (well only the part that occurs after the meeting with Queequegg - so I do like the first 35 pages or so), Moby-Dick, or, the Whale. But that opening! Sublime.
"it was the best of times, it was the worst of times" - A Tale of Two Cities of course. I'm such a francophile, how could I not love this book??? It may be my absolute favorite Dickens.
And speaking of Dickens, I would be remiss in not mentioning "Marley was dead, to begin with." - from A Christmas Carol
My last one, "It was a dark and stormy night." - from A Wrinkle in Time - for me it will always be the book that made that a common phrase. Yes, I know all about where it truly originated, but that book is not the reason we still use that expression today.
So have at it - what are some of your most memorable openers? Opening lines that sucked you right into the story? When I have a minute, I'm going to look up a couple more obscure ones (as I have already mentioned my bad memory, I will need to 'refresh my recollection' as we lawyers say).