Unforgettable Opening Paragraphs

Post by **Dromond** » Sat Sep 21, 2002 9:26 pm

What's your favorite,mind grabbing opening line in a book? My favorite is Ken Folletts' Pillars of the Earth -- "The small boys came early to the hanging"!! Catches you right there! Any others ?

Post by **danlo** » Sat Sep 21, 2002 10:50 pm

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." brownie pts. 2 whoever IDs the book 1st!
Of course I also like this one alot: "She came out of the store just in time to see her young son playing on the sidewalk directly in the path of the gray, gaunt man who stode the center of the sidewalk like a mechanical derelict."

Post by **Earthblood** » Sun Sep 22, 2002 10:42 pm

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."

What can I say ....short & sweet.

Post by **Earthblood** » Sun Sep 22, 2002 10:44 pm

oh yeah, Danlo...I'm not an english lit scholar, but isn't that 'a tale of two cities'?

Post by **Skyweir** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 4:24 am

mmm .. and the second is our own Lord Foul's Bane

Post by **Foamfollower1013** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 6:09 am

Earthblood wrote:"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."

Mm...that's a good one.

~Foamy~

Post by **danlo** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 11:02 pm

5 Brownie Points 2 Earthblood!!!--Ok, now that we have and opening line trivia game going w/in this topic, ID this: "Call me Ismael..."

Post by **Earthblood** » Tue Sep 24, 2002 1:21 am

Like I said, I'm no english lit scholar.....I'll take my brownies & run...

Post by **Foamfollower1013** » Tue Sep 24, 2002 3:41 am

Moby Dick!

...How on earth did I know that?

~Foamy~

Post by **Skyweir** » Tue Sep 24, 2002 4:38 am

beats me

.. read it?

Post by **danlo** » Tue Sep 24, 2002 5:00 am

Good Job Foam! How about this 1 (It's alot tuffer

!!): " Most of the crowd at Mallory's Bar & Sleep over in Delta Sector had no idea what was really going on."

Post by **Skyweir** » Tue Sep 24, 2002 7:28 am

mmm .. that was a tuffy .. The Real Story SRD's Gap Series

Post by **danlo** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 3:35 am

I bet u anything NO ONE will ever get this 1:

Long before we knew that the price of the wisdom and immortality we sought would be almost beyond our means to pay, when man - what was left of man - was still like a child playing with pebbles and shells by the seashore, in the time of the quest for the mystery known as the Elder Eddas, I heard the call of the stars and prepared to leave the city of my birth and death.

p.s.: Right u r, of course

Sky!

Post by **Skyweir** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 4:15 am

hahaha Neverness .. David Zindell!!!!

Post by **Dromond** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 4:22 am

Well, danlo- I for one am stumped! Beautiful sentence,however. I am curious to know the answer!

Here's one--
Taran wanted to make a sword; but Coll, charged with the practical side of his education, decided on horseshoes.

Post by **danlo** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 4:26 am

Yes see! It is 1 of the coolest opening lines ever! Now y more people don't read it is byond me!!!

Post by **Dromond** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 4:28 am

Well I guess you answered as I was posting Sky! Dam!! I type SLOW!! A blazin' 12 words a minute!! At least!

Post by **danlo** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 4:40 am

Sky and aliantha r the only 2 folks on the Watch who've read any parts of the Neverness series--and of course Sky had 2 butt right in!

Dromond! Dang ur line is SO familiar--dang I kno that book--arrgh! It will drive me crazy--not Ivanhoe? No of course not....

Post by **Dromond** » Thu Sep 26, 2002 1:59 am

Ivanhoe

No, not a classic in any sense like that! But a good fantasy story better than most! I'll let you smolder a while!

Post by **Lord Mhoram** » Sat Sep 28, 2002 2:49 pm

Heres on of my favorite scenes, not exactly terribly profound, but unforgettable nontheless...

Once there were four children named Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy...

What book is that from?

Kevin's Watch

Kevin's Watch

Unforgettable Opening Paragraphs

Unforgettable Opening Paragraphs