What's your favorite opening line of a book?

 

Me, I have several, but one of the best ones is from William Goldman's "the Silent Gondoliers".

 

Everyone knows that the gondoliers in Venice are the greatest - correction, sorry - everyone used to know that the Gondoliers of Venice are the greatest singers in the world.

 

And I also like the very simple opening line of "Rebecca" by Daphne DuMaurier:

 

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.

*laughs*

 

I love those typical openings.

 

There once was a.....

 

Ah the memories of my youth...... :D

 

When I was young and cute.... :)

"The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed."

 

From The Gunslinger, by Stephen King. One of my favorite novels ever.

"I write this sitting in the kitchen sink"- I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

 

"It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of good fortune must be in want of a wife"- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

 

8)

I was definitely waiting for someone to post the Pride and Pred one. It does indeed rule.

*nods emphatic agreement* :D :D

I'm actually reading that book right now. I'm halfway through. I love Jane Austen ;)

 

"It was always messy, cleaning up after a murder. There was more than just blood to be washed off the tiles. There were all those awkward loose ends to be taken care of - alibis to be established, traitors to be paid off, witnesses to be slienced . . ."

~Wolfblade by Jennifer Fallon

 

I didn't much like the book, but that opening line is amazing!

My favorite's always been the opening of the novel Neuromancer, by William Gibson:

 

"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."

 

Set the mood *perfectly*.

"This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it."

 

That's from the Princess Bride. Can you tell I'm a big fan of William Goldman/S. Morgenstern? :P