I ran across a list of the top 100 opening lines of all time here: Best First Lines of Novels — Infoplease.com Rather than argue with their selections, I'd like to talk about opening lines they missed entirely.
(OK, I can't help myself. "Call me Ishmael' is a ridiculous choice for inclusion, to say nothing of making it No. 1. Whatever you think of the book, the line itself is nothing remarkable.)
I don't remember another opening line that made me immediately aware that I would not be putting this book down anytime soon:
A couple more:Quote:
We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.
Quote:
Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small, unregarded yellow sun.
Quote:
The telephone was ringing wildly, but without result, since there was no-one in the room but the corpse.
Quote:
There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.
Quote:
You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings.


