Confessions of a Bibliophile- Kristen

I believe in love at first sight. Especially when we’re talking about books. Not with their covers- we all know you can’t judge a book by its cover, or (maybe more importantly) its movie. But sometimes I can’t help but fall in love with the opening lines of a book.
Now, it is conceivable that a mediocre book could have a fantastic first sentence, and sometimes classics have opening sentences that are quite dull. But my list of favorites below have it all- memorable opening sentences that woo you into the narrative, and the content to follow through. (I include my two favorite Gabriel Garcia Marquez sentences- but every book I’ve ever read by him has had a killer opening sentence.)

“It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.”
Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez

“Last night I dreamt we were at Manderly again.”
Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier

“John Laroche is a tall guy, skinny as a stick, pale-eyed, slouch-shouldered, and sharply handsome, in spite of the fact that he is missing all his front teeth.”
The Orchid Thief, Susan Orlean

“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.”
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez

“I was born to be a point guard, but not a very good one.”
My Losing Season, Pat Conroy

“I am a sick man…I am a wicked man. An unattractive man. I think my liver hurts.”
Notes from Underground, Fyodor Dostoevsky

“To the table or to bed, you must come when you are bid.”
Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy

“Dr. Weiss, at forty, knew that her life had been ruined by literature.”
The Debut, Anita Brookner

“Someone must have been spreading lies about Joseph K, for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one morning.”
The Trial, Franz Kafka

“Take my camel, dear,” said my Aunt Dot, as she climbed down from this animal on her return from High Mass.”
The Towers of Trebizond, Rose Macauly

And, although it is not, alas, an opening line, this has to be one of my favorite comedic sentences in all of literature…
“The outfit was acceptable by any theological and grammatical standards, however abstruse, and suggested a rich inner life.”
Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole

Micah's got a phenomenal favorite first sentence too, from one of his all-time fiction favs:
"Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyler's pushing a gun in my mouth and saying, "The first step to eternal life is you have to die."
Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk

Comments

[Scott Jones]

Thanks for these.