Heh. I *just* added tags to a meme about first lines from 2003. One is a cheat (since it's many lines *g*) and a lot of them seem to have been about death:
"We begin with an ending: the last arciform architecture in the Arkansas Ozarks." (The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks - Donald Harington)
"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." (One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez)
"Lymond is back." (The Game of Kings - Dorothy Dunnett)
"'To be born again,' sang Gibreel Farishta tumbling from the heavens, 'first you have to die.'" (The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie)
"This is the story of a man who went far away for a long time, just to play a game." (The Player of Games - Iain M. Banks)
"Both moons were high, dimming the light of all but the brightest stars." (Tigana - Guy Gavriel Kay)*
"Harriet Vane sat at her writing-table and stared out into Mecklenburg Square." (Gaudy Night - Dorothy L. Sayers)
"If I had cared to live, I would have died." (Silverlock - John Myers Myers)
"What are you doing here, my little man?" "Nothing." "Then why are you standing here?" "Just because." "Can you read?" "Oh, yes." "How old are you?" "Nine and a bit." "Which would you prefer, a piece of chocolate or a book?" "A book." "Indeed? Splendid! So that's your reason for standing here?" Yes." Auto da Fé - Elias Canetti
"I am old now and have not much to fear from the anger of gods." (Till We Have Faces - C. S. Lewis)
Oh, oh, oh I almost put this on the list. I didn't because (1) it kind of gives it away for the folks who have already read the series and (2) I can't find anyone to gush over the series as much as I do. So I contented myself with Charlotte's Web, Ender's Game, and the mysterious number nine (which is kind of cheating since the book isn't that well known, but I'm rereading it right now, so there.)
"I am old now and have not much to fear from the anger of gods."
I had forgotten about this book! It's an old favorite, so compelling and complex. And it has a great first line. It's hard to find first lines that stand alone when taken out of context.
It's perfectly ok to cheat and "expand" the definition of a first line - I did for dementordelta's fic. *g*
That is a fantastic list of first lines. It made me remember books I've loved and want to read others. Would you be my secret reading buddy? I'm envious of your good taste!
"We begin with an ending: the last arciform architecture in the Arkansas Ozarks."
(The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks - Donald Harington)
"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."
(One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez)
"Lymond is back."
(The Game of Kings - Dorothy Dunnett)
"'To be born again,' sang Gibreel Farishta tumbling from the heavens, 'first you have to die.'"
(The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie)
"This is the story of a man who went far away for a long time, just to play a game."
(The Player of Games - Iain M. Banks)
"Both moons were high, dimming the light of all but the brightest stars."
(Tigana - Guy Gavriel Kay)*
"Harriet Vane sat at her writing-table and stared out into Mecklenburg Square."
(Gaudy Night - Dorothy L. Sayers)
"If I had cared to live, I would have died."
(Silverlock - John Myers Myers)
"What are you doing here, my little man?"
"Nothing."
"Then why are you standing here?"
"Just because."
"Can you read?"
"Oh, yes."
"How old are you?"
"Nine and a bit."
"Which would you prefer, a piece of chocolate or a book?"
"A book."
"Indeed? Splendid! So that's your reason for standing here?"
Yes."
Auto da Fé - Elias Canetti
"I am old now and have not much to fear from the anger of gods."
(Till We Have Faces - C. S. Lewis)
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Oh, oh, oh I almost put this on the list. I didn't because (1) it kind of gives it away for the folks who have already read the series and (2) I can't find anyone to gush over the series as much as I do. So I contented myself with Charlotte's Web, Ender's Game, and the mysterious number nine (which is kind of cheating since the book isn't that well known, but I'm rereading it right now, so there.)
"I am old now and have not much to fear from the anger of gods."
I had forgotten about this book! It's an old favorite, so compelling and complex. And it has a great first line. It's hard to find first lines that stand alone when taken out of context.
It's perfectly ok to cheat and "expand" the definition of a first line - I did for dementordelta's fic. *g*
That is a fantastic list of first lines. It made me remember books I've loved and want to read others. Would you be my secret reading buddy? I'm envious of your good taste!
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