Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Ten on Tuesday - That's Novel!



Today's Ten on Tuesday topic is an interesting one - 10 Sentences That You Think Would Make Great Opening Lines for a Novel. I did try to write a few opening sentences on my own, but here's an example: "She sat down to knit, and as her yarn unwound from the ball, so did her memories begin to unwind." My attempts were a bit cheesy and of the "It was a dark and stormy night" variety, so I went with the alternative prompt, Share Your 10 Favorite Opening Lines instead.
  • “I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974." -- Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex
  • “Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.” -- Celeste Ng, Everything I Never Told You
  • “Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.” -- Anne Tyler, Back When We Were Grownups
  • "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." -- George Orwell, 1984
  • "The king stood in a pool of blue light, unmoored." -- Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven
  • "In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing." -- Norman Maclean,  A River Runs Through It 
  • "I'm pretty much fucked." -- Andy Weir, The Martian
  • "There was a hand in the darkness and it held a knife." -- Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book
  • “Where’s Papa going with that ax?” said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast."  -- E.B. White, Charlotte's Web
  • "Elspeth died while Robert was standing in front of a vending machine watching tea shoot into a small plastic cup." -- Audrey Niffenegger, Her Fearful Symmetry
These are all from books that I've read and found the first lines intriguing. I remembered that thought-provoking line from Her Fearful Symmetry, but did have to look up what novel it came from. I can't recall anything about the book itself, but the first line certainly stuck with me. Perhaps the book is worth a re-read!

What are your original or favorite opening lines?

14 comments:

  1. Those are great opening lines! The only one I can ever remember by heart is this one: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." (Leo Tolstoy in Anna Karenina)

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  2. I've read and enjoyed many of the books on your list and think I may have to read the one or two I haven't. Great lines really capture us right off the bat. The only opening line I remember is "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."

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  3. Excellent choices! I've read all of those books except for Her Fearful Symmetry and The Graveyard Book.

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  4. I've only read Charlotte's Web on that list! And no opening lines for me...:-) You've got me intrigued with several of those though, particularly the Anne Tyler one.

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  5. I did the same as you - I'm not so creative. I just love Charlotte's Web!

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  6. The Anne Tyler one gets to me every time I read it!! One of my favorites from a book is "Parsifal Is Dead..that is the end of the story"... From The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett.

    Linda in VA

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  7. Those are great! My Goodreads list just got longer :-)

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  8. I've read several of these. And we have common ones, too!

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  9. it's funny - I don't think great first lines necessarily translate into great novels. I guess it takes a lot of great lines - and great ending - to make a great novel, but still... shouldn't it be a better predictor?! And like everyone else, the Ann Patchett intrigues me. another one TBR.

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  10. My TBR list just grew a little longer! Thank you...I'm looking forward to them even more now that the first line is out of the way. Great post!
    April

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  11. I have read many of those. Great first lines!

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  12. Oh, fantastic list! I wish I had thought of that. I sat this week out because I couldn't come up with ten opening lines.

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Thank you for visiting and taking the time to comment! :-)