Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number 4 Privet Drive were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.
It's the "thank you very much" that gets me, every time. At eleven, I was sucked in and devoured the first three Harry Potter books. And yes, I typed that line from memory. :)
Honestly, I think the only "opening line" that I have memorized is from a children's book that I loved when I was a wee thing, and still have a copy (not my original one) on the bookshelf, and every now and then I re-read it just because it still amuses me. The book is called "A Little Ballerina" and (if memory still serves) it starts out thus:
Carol and her dog Cindy watched the children playing outside. Carol wanted to play with them but she could not, because her legs were weak. It made her tired to run and jump like the other boys and girls.
Of course, that's why her parents signed her up for ballet lessons, to help strengthen her legs. I could really relate to the story since I had leg braces when I was a youngling, to help correct severe in-toeing. It's just one of those stories that sort of sticks with you, not unlike The Poky Little Puppy.
The wording is gripping, and you immediately want to know what on Middle Earth is as hobbit and why he lived in the hole. And then the second sentence goes
" Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.”
and it's hook, line and sinker. Vivid and descriptive and tells a lot about this hobbit already.
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Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number 4 Privet Drive were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.
It's the "thank you very much" that gets me, every time. At eleven, I was sucked in and devoured the first three Harry Potter books. And yes, I typed that line from memory. :)
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I am so old.
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I may have been 12? I dunno. It was sixth grade, lol.
And you're not old. =p
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Even if apparently you were 11 when I graduated from high school.
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-- STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND
--- ROBERT HEINLEIN
WHAT IT TAUGHT ME ABOUT STORYTELLING:
I am an egg.
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This whole month has been a litany of "man, I want to reread that, too."
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Carol and her dog Cindy watched the children playing outside. Carol wanted to play with them but she could not, because her legs were weak. It made her tired to run and jump like the other boys and girls.
Of course, that's why her parents signed her up for ballet lessons, to help strengthen her legs. I could really relate to the story since I had leg braces when I was a youngling, to help correct severe in-toeing. It's just one of those stories that sort of sticks with you, not unlike The Poky Little Puppy.
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"It is a pain in the ass waiting around for someone to try to kill you."
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The wording is gripping, and you immediately want to know what on Middle Earth is as hobbit and why he lived in the hole. And then the second sentence goes
" Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.”
and it's hook, line and sinker. Vivid and descriptive and tells a lot about this hobbit already.
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