"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." - Neuromancer by William S. Gibson
Never read the whole story, but that's a line that will stick with me.
"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." - Neuromancer by William S. Gibson
Never read the whole story, but that's a line that will stick with me.
Well, I think my fist place favourite would be the openning of Lolita, one of the few I've learnt by heart:
"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta."
I first read this in a lingüistics book; the next day I went to the library. I love his style.
My second choice would be what I thought was the beginning of Paradise Lost. It is, but only in Spanish... translator's licence, I will type it anyway:
"Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Horeb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That Shepherd,[...]"
(...)then in winter
when there is no leaf left
invent one.
-- Eve Merriam
'Never having known a mother, her mother died when Janey was a year old, Janey depended on her father for everything and regarded her father as boyfriend, brother, sister, money, amusement and father.' Kathy Acker Blood and Guts in Highschool
'My father's name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Peter. So I called myself Peter and came to be called Peter.' Kathy Acker Great Expectations
I want to be famous. I want to be so famous that movie stars hang out with me and talk about what a bummer their lives are.
(ok ok so it's two...so sue me)
And Charles Dicken's Great Expectations is a great book....
Last edited by imthefoolonthehill; 05-22-2006 at 10:09 PM. Reason: bonus material
Told by a fool, signifying nothing.
I'd have to say either
'It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on earth has ever produced the expression "As pretty as an airport."'- The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams
or
'Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore--
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visiter," I muttered, 'tapping at my chamber door--
Only this and nothing more."' The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
"He looked up and saw a bucket held by a man with no plot significance what so ever, and therefore his name was forgotten and he, or maybe a she (or maybe even an it), will be called 'John'."
OK. I give up. "Who is John Galt?" I'll trade the name of that book for the name of the book with the first sentence:
"It was love at first sight."
I love this game. The classic "First Sentences" are just that: classics. In addition to "All happy families are alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way," which I THINK is a single sentence; I'm not sure. (Love that semicolon!), there's "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a gentleman in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." It's not fair to look them up. the fun is in the oh so slight misquoting . . . we aren't the artists who wrote the gems anyway, just the ohso affected readers!
Suzie
And then there's "Call me Ishmael, my parents did." What's the book?Originally Posted by Lara
Suzie
Probably been said somewhere already, but my favorite;
I am a sick man....I am a spiteful man.
Notes From Underground, Fyodor Dostoevsky
"Americans should know the universe itself as a road, as many roads, as roads for traveling souls."
-Walt WhitmanThey have their worries, they’re counting the miles, they’re thinking about where to sleep tonight, how much money for gas, the weather, how they’ll get there—and all the time they’ll get there anyway, you see.
-Jack Kerouac
That's the first line from Notes? Really. Grreat.
“What’s it going to be then, eh?” - A Clockwork Orange.
Actually…
“What’s it going to be the, eh?
There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, Dim
being really dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar making up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening, a flip dark chill winter bastard though dry.”
I've never read A Clockwork Orange, although I've read Burgess. That's just an "OK" first sentence, with all due respect. Again, can't count the second and third . . .
Suzie
VD300: what book is this from: "He looked up and saw a bucket held by a man with no plot significance what so ever, and therefore his name was forgotten and he, or maybe a she (or maybe even an it), will be called 'John'."
Sounds so familiar. Marvelous sentence. But, although I give up, I still want to know.
Suzie
I've always loved the begining of Poe's 'The Cast of Amontillado':
THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.
I love that story! My very favorite of Poe's short tales. Creepy.
"I may not be better than other people, but at least I'm different."
--Jean-Jacques Rousseau
My favorite: "Call me Ishmael." (MOBY DICK).
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