tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489168146200487747.post8927424826921400599..comments2024-01-30T13:57:40.271+11:00Comments on LoveCats DownUnder: FAMOUS FIRST WORDSAlly Blakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17352564320902831489noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489168146200487747.post-32877130496885871362010-07-18T17:56:24.475+10:002010-07-18T17:56:24.475+10:00Coming tremendously late back to the party (I'...Coming tremendously late back to the party (I've been away) but delighted to see some more fabulous starters posted. Thanks Mel and Susan. And Susan, which one did she stay with?!Zana Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08452523395857120532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489168146200487747.post-12184588645722097952010-07-17T17:53:44.571+10:002010-07-17T17:53:44.571+10:00I'm coming to this party a bit late and most o...I'm coming to this party a bit late and most of my favourites have already been given. So as a different slant - I can remember that start of a category romance that I loved, but don't remember the name of the book or the author. It went something like "I didn't mean to marry them both..." How about that for making you want to read more?!Scarlet Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03784722625468146993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489168146200487747.post-70198368468588550912010-07-17T17:34:52.116+10:002010-07-17T17:34:52.116+10:00Great post Zana! You're right, the first lines...Great post Zana! You're right, the first lines have to (should) be catchy to snare the reader. Here's some great first lines from some of my favourite authors:<br /><br />Vertical by Joseph Garber: On the morning of the day he disappeared, David Elliot awoke, as he did every weekday, at precisely 5:45 A.M.<br />The Nekkid Truth by Nicole Camden: My cell phone rang just as my date for the evening leaned over to kiss me.<br />The Wilder Shores of Love by Madeleine Ker: He must have been standing in the street all the time she was in the dealer's house, though she hadn't noticed him. <br />Believe it or not, the last one is a presents (though aged now loL!)Mel Teshcohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12945507690555119380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489168146200487747.post-27504072704974214452010-07-15T21:44:29.380+10:002010-07-15T21:44:29.380+10:00Hi Rach
Fabulous to see the inimitable SE Phillip...Hi Rach<br /><br />Fabulous to see the inimitable SE Phillips head this line-up. I love her books but especially Natural Born Charmer and Breathing Room. I really enjoyed the other two examples you provided. They do make me realise I don't spend nearly enough time on my first page - let alone the opening lines....<br /><br />Michelle, loved your contributions too. Thanks so much. Yay to see another Hornby - I still haven't read this book. <br /><br />I also really like the lilting phraseology of Plath's opening - it's almost musical, isn't it. <br /><br />Alice gave me a bit of a zap - the "ouch" factor, with its matter-of-fact tone. <br /><br />Reading all the examples added today, I realise that while openings often entertain, they can also challenge dearly-held beliefs, overturn expected responses or presage awful things to come. <br /><br />How lucky we are to have such gifted writers out there.Zana Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08452523395857120532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489168146200487747.post-9573103521184438102010-07-15T21:23:19.420+10:002010-07-15T21:23:19.420+10:00Hey Sharon
Sorry to get to you late. Had to drive...Hey Sharon<br /><br />Sorry to get to you late. Had to drive down to Auckland today. Thanks so much for the Dick Francis beginnings. I've always meant to read his books. One of my dearest friends is a HUGE fan. I'll have to get one of his books now.<br /><br />As for Sue Grafton's beginning - very entertaining and immediately relate-able to!Zana Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08452523395857120532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489168146200487747.post-72085218915236398922010-07-15T17:06:19.858+10:002010-07-15T17:06:19.858+10:00Ooh, Zana, great post! And great examples! (You al...Ooh, Zana, great post! And great examples! (You also have me dying to read both Neuromancer and I Capture a Castle now)<br /><br />One of my fave opening lines is from The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. It sends shivers through me: It was a queer sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York.<br /><br />And some just from close at hand (as I know I will lose myself if I go anywhere near the bookcases):<br /><br />"They had flown from London to Minneapolis to look at a toilet." Juliet Naked - Nick Hornby<br /><br />"When all is said and done, killing my mother came easily." The Almost Moon - Alice Sebold<br /><br />"If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book." A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket<br /><br />and just to finish on the note I started with... <br /><br />"Had I known my mother was being given electroconvulsive therapy while I was dressing for school on eight consecutive Monday, I do not think I could have buttoned my blouses or tied my shoes or located my homework." Sights Unseen - Kaye Gibbons<br /><br />Am wondering what gems I'd find if I did hit the bookcases. Hmm... maybe once I've finished all my work :-)Michelle Douglashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07748538761711892080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489168146200487747.post-64425927993067273722010-07-15T15:52:26.444+10:002010-07-15T15:52:26.444+10:00Great topic, Zana! Some of my faves:
"It was...Great topic, Zana! Some of my faves:<br /><br />"It wasn't every day a guy saw a headless beaver marching down the side of a road, not even in Dean Robillard's larger-than-life world."<br />Natural Born Charmer, Susan Elizabeth Phillips (though I could have used any of SEP's opening lines - she's *so* good at them!).<br /><br />"Madeline Mercy Delacourte quite liked looking at near-naked men."<br />Untameable Rogue (Sexy Sensation / Modern Extra) by Kelly Hunter (who writes such sumptuous books that live up to their opening lines).<br /><br />"If someone had told Tom that by the end of the day he'd have delivered nine babies, he would have turned and headed for Darwin."<br />Tom Bradley's Babies (M&B Sweet / Romance) by Marion Lennox (another absolute master of the perfect opening!).<br /><br />Thanks for all the other great opening lines, Zana!Rachel Baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08200504088343160284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489168146200487747.post-27735590418824382082010-07-15T15:19:44.639+10:002010-07-15T15:19:44.639+10:00Great opening lines, Zana. Seeing them as a colle...Great opening lines, Zana. Seeing them as a collection like that really brings home how fabulous and effective they are.<br /><br />And what a lovely opportunity to delve into the bookcase... so naturally, I took it!<br /><br />I've always loved Dick Francis's way with an opening line - and his books are written in first person so there's such an immediate draw in for me as a reader....<br /><br />"I looked at my friend and saw a man who had robbed me." ~ HIGH STAKES<br /><br />"I intensely disliked my father's fifth wife, but not to the point of murder." ~ HOT MONEY <br /><br />And one that's slightly different and really poignant I think... from PROOF ~ "Agony is socially unacceptable."<br /><br />Sue Grafton does great opening lines too and again she writes in first person...<br /><br />From L IS FOR LAWLESS comes this which I think is priceless and poses all sorts of great questions ~ "I don't mean to be a bitch, but in the future I intend to hesitate before I do a favor for the friend of a friend."<br /><br />So I suspect that I should stop delving now and go and do some work! ;)Sharon Archerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06836969154744451542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489168146200487747.post-16658563367143005202010-07-15T10:46:04.106+10:002010-07-15T10:46:04.106+10:00Ah Anna, those are pearls. Many thanks! I haven...Ah Anna, those are pearls. Many thanks! I haven't read Second Glance but certainly my curiosity is aroused now.... <br /><br />I'd forgotten the first sentence of Dawn Treader - a favourite of my youth!<br /><br />Orwell manages to strike a chill with the simplest of words, doesn't he.Zana Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08452523395857120532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489168146200487747.post-73174050531620379772010-07-15T10:04:47.610+10:002010-07-15T10:04:47.610+10:00Hi Zana --
Great post! I love catchy first lines....Hi Zana --<br />Great post! I love catchy first lines. Austen's P and P and Wilson's Neuromancer lines are some of my favs.<br /><br />Here are a couple more:<br /><br />It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.<br />~ 1984 by George Orwell<br /><br />Ross Wakeman succeeded the first time he killed himself, but not the second or the third.<br />~ Second Glance by Jodi Picoult<br /><br />There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. ~The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. LewisAnna Hacketthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05448179667690075629noreply@blogger.com