First lines that you like

Now consider the tortoise and the eagle.

Bridge Of Birds: "I shall clasp my hands together and bow to the corners of the world. My surname is Lu and my personal name is Yu, but I am not to be confused with the eminent author of The Classic of Tea."

Lolita: "Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul."

"The book literally knocked one off their feet, stunned them, ripped soul and body to shreds." *

"Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams to find himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect."

No Austen love?

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

Hate the book, love the opening lines version: "Call me Ishmael".

And one from a book I love: "If I had cared to live, I would have died."

How to explain? How to describe? Even the omniscient viewpoint quails.

Let us follow the geographer of the dark undergrounds, along the path beyond the tree-roots; let us open, one by one, the geological gates sealed with the stone volutes of Eternity. Let us pierce through the ages enchanted within silent rocks, where the spirit of the deepest memory has materialized. Let us touch the heart of the cosmos shaped within the matrix of earthen expanses, so that we may comprehend the metaphysics of the abyss.

And just like a crown of an enormous tree does sprawl, like a labyrinth of corridors and enfilades does tangle, like the carved lines of ancient symbols do radiate out into a rosette, so let us too meander along the roads among the caverns, crypts, chambers, grottos, and let us head on and on, until we encounter the inhabitants of the internal; those magical underground creatures. *

edited 14th Jun '11 2:46:53 AM by Korodzik

I gave that up when he started his diatribe on the philosophy of the whale's liver.

Anyway, "In accordance with the law the death sentence was announced to Ciccinatus C. in a whisper. All rose, exchanging smiles."

Here's two that really hooked me.

I put the shotgun in an Adidas bag and padded it out with four pairs of tennis socks, not my style at all, but that was what I was aiming for: If they think you're crude, go technical; if they think you're technical, go crude.

Shadow had done three years in prison. He was big enough and looked don't-fuck-with-me enough that his biggest problem was killing time. So he kept himself in shape, and taught himself coin tricks, and thought a lot about how much he loved his wife.

All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

The question of how long someone believed in Santa Claus is a worthless topic that would never come up in idle conversation. Having said that, if you're going to ask me how much of my childhood I spent believing in an old man in a red suit, I can confidently say that I never believed in him to begin with.

It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times.

The rest of the book could only go down from there.

'The hills rolled up to the moon on slopes of wind-bent grass, crested, swept down into tangled brier shadows.'

Midway in our life's journey, I went astray from the straight road and woke to find myself in a dark wood.

I found that one a bit overwrought when I first read it, but after finishing the book I must say it ended up being pretty appropriate.

Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed. A yellow dressinggown, ungirdled, was sustained gently behind him by the mild morning air.

“FUCK YOU AND YOUR GOAT-LOVING ANAL SAUSAGE FUCK FACTORY!” Luc i f er Niggerbastard screamed, giving the shape in the window a double-handed flip-off. Mr. Moneyballs could go fuck himself.

^Well ok...

On that note: "Dobby relished his groinsaw's roar as he withdrew the flesh-choked blade from the astronaut's ruined skull."

Here's one I'm surprised hasn't come up yet.

"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley were proud to say they were perfectly ordinary, thank you very much."

"The building was on fire, and it wasn't my fault."

I knew I'd be beaten to it with how popular Dresden is round these parts.

This is not for you.

I don't have a favorite opening, but

is iconic.

edited 17th Jun '11 11:02:19 PM by kashchei

Definitely agreeing with that Dresden line. I also really like the first line of Changes, but that's kind of spoilerific.

"It begins, as most things begin, with a song." (Anansi Boys)

"'I have no time for this town,' the ragged man said, hands plucking at the frayed hems of what had once been an opulent cloak." (Toll the Hounds)

"Winter came early that year; it should've been a tip off." (Small Favour)

"Ash fell from the sky." (Mistborn)

"In a landscape torn with grief, the carcasses of six dragons lay strewn in a ragged row reaching a tousand or more paces across the plain, flesh split apart, broken bones jutting, jaws gaping and eyes brittle-dry." (Reaper's Gale)

"He came shambling into Judgment's Round from teh Avenue of Souls, a misshapen mass of flies." (Deadhouse Gates)

"Nothing ever begins." (Weaveworld)

"Solving the following riddle will reveal the awful secret behind the universe, assuming you do not go utterly mad in the attempt~"- David Wong (John Dies At The End)