Grand Entrances
From various points on the Web, I give you the American Book Review's top 100 best first lines from novels.
In my humble opinion, they left out this one. J.G. Ballard's "High Rise," a book I had to go to London to get.
"As he sat on his balcony eating the dog, Dr Robert Laing reflected on the unusual events that had taken place within this huge apartment building during the previous three months."
Granted, I'm not too keen on the flashback opening, but the action of eating a dog on a balcony, as if sipping a morning's OJ, is enough to grab attention as well as representing the tone for the rest of the novel, one that's influential to what I'm working on.
Either way, the list gives a good schooling on how important that opening sentence is for a writer to craft. You need to bring something special in the first words or you may as well call it a day.
2 comments:
That one sure got me at hello :) Pity I'm not going to London anytime soon so I can just imagine the rest of it.
What a great list that was. My favorite opening line is the one of A Tale Of Two Cities. Now I feel bad I haven't read Lolita yet, that is so promising.
High Rise is worth the trip, and it's London of course...so there you go.
That list...so many books to read.
I need to read more. Always putting off picking up a book.
Thank you for coming by. :)
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