Great opening lines.

As part of a monthly meme by the Classics Club we were asked about what are our favourite or most memorable opening lines.  I must admit that I immediately thought of  Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca: ‘Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.’  Of course this line is really memorable and the lovely Jessica from Bookwork Chronicles had bagged it!  No surprise that this would make the list.  This got me to thinking about great opening lines and how much of an impact they have.  I certainly don’t think I would be put off reading a book if the opening line didn’t pack a punch but I wonder if it does make a difference to how you think about the book.  My choice for the classics has to be:

‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.’ —Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice.  Spot on if you ask me!

In terms of other great openers Neil Gaiman’s Graveyard Book grabs your attention immediately. ‘There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife’.  You couldn’t stop reading after that could you?

I’ve picked ten openers, or more to the point I’ve thought about ten books that I love and taken a look at how they start:

1. ‘My father’s family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip.’ Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.  This is a favourite.  Is this opener fantastic.  Probably not.  Does it make me like the book less.  Definitely not.
2. ”My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie.’  The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.  I really loved this book and I think this is a great opener – ‘my name was Salmon’ – ‘was’ being the word that immediately draws your attention!
3. ‘There was no possibility of taking a walk that day’.  Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.  This is another one of my favourite books and yet I wouldn’t say the opening line really grabs me having taken a fresh look.  Did it stop me reading or picking up and reading again.  No.
4. ‘It was night again.  The Waystone Inn lay in silence, and it was a silence of three parts.’  I had to cheat again here.  This is The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.  I think this is a good opener – it makes me want to know what the three parts of silence are.  You?  Course I do love this book so my judgement might be a bit skewed!
5. ‘At the height of the long wet summer of the Seventy-Seventh Year of Sendovani, the Thiefmaker of Camorr paid a sudden and unannounced visit to the Eyeless Priest at the Temple of Perelandro, desperately hoping to sell him the Lamora boy.’  The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch.  Another great book – that opening line is a bit of a mouthful (or a mindful).  You pretty much know that you’re into the world of fantasy straight from the get go.
6. ‘Ravens!  Always the ravens.  They settled on the gables of the church even before the injured became the dead.’  Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence.  I cheated again (this is becoming a habit).  Fantastic book.  I think I detect a theme of liking sentences that are short and punchy.
7. ‘On those cloudy days, Robert Neville was never sure when sunset came, and sometimes they were in the streets before he could get back.’  I am Legend by Richard Matheson.  This is a great opener I think – who are ‘they’ – you have to read on and find out!
8. ‘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.’  Needs no introduction.  No really!  If you don’t know what this book is then (1) WTF (2) Are you serious; and (c) get out of that black hole and read LoTR now!  Ok it’s probably not got the same hook as some but Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings is such a great book it couldn’t miss the list.  You straight away get the feeling of a story well told.  Put on your slippers and settle down in a comfy chair to read (a glass of nice red wouldn’t go amiss either).
9. ‘Once upon a time, a girl named September grew very tired indeed of her parents’ house, where she washed the same pink-and-yellow teacups and matching gravy boats every day.’  A beautiful and whimsical opening by Catherynne Valente’s The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a ship of her own making.
10. ‘The Children were playing while Holston climbed to his death; he could hear them squealing as only happy children do.’  This has a definite hook.  Did it make you want to read?  if so – Wool by Hugh Howie

I’ve told you mine now tell me yours – just your favourite (you don’t have to go all out and find 10)