Lily Dooner's question got me thinking about great opening lines.
Phil Rogers quoted a cracker from JG Ballard. Excellent!
One of my favourites is JD Salinger's Catcher In The Rye:
If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.
Orwell's 1984 is also mind boggling:
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
Anyone else have any favourite opening lines?
The Trial by Franz Kafka.
''Someone must have traduced Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one fine morning.''
I don't know what it is, but right from the first line, I got the feeling that this mysterious narrator was against Joseph K.
This sets the scene of the very deeply physiological book, that I think rivals
(the undisputed champ of dystopian fiction, well maybe Huxley, but not in my mind)
1984, in it's perception of bureaucratic power, a never ending hierarchy, and the general way that Kafka estimates how the average citizen would react if landed in a situation like this.
It is fantastic.
Jennifer,
The second I began to read your question, one thought sprang to mind and I may not get this spot on -
'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in need of a wife'.
Whenever I hear/read, talk of an opening line, this is the one I think of.
Your George Orwell one is also a classic which I really like.
I think the opening lines we remember are often from the books we read over and over.
This is a great topic for discussion Jennifer, I'll be keeping my eye on it for any interesting reads.
Debbie
Debbie