Bookworms:What are the best first lines you've read?

[susie123]

If we're going for poetry, Ozymandias by Shelley:

I met a traveller from an antique land

The imagery in the poem, of ancient statues in the desert, has stayed with me rather like the image conjured up by the opening of Metamorphosis.

I also go for Byron's The Eve of Waterloo, part of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage but also published separately:

There was a sound of revelry by night...

describing a ball followed by hasty preparations for the battle the following day, which of course ends in slaughter.

[DaveinGermany]

Originally Posted by Less

Aaaargh! Looks like another trip over to Amazon, haven't read it in years, let someone borrow my copy, usual thing happened, meanwhile, might just go to bed with 'The Lord Of The Rings',

Try to read them at least once a year, "The Children of Húrin", "The Silmarillion", "The hobbit" & "Lord of the rings" All from Tolkien. Pretty heavy going in places, but worth the effort & I think the re-reading helps things fall into place more easily.

[steve2qec]

Originally Posted by DaveinGermany

Try to read them at least once a year, "The Children of Húrin", "The Silmarillion", "The hobbit" & "Lord of the rings" All from Tolkien. Pretty heavy going in places, but worth the effort & I think the re-reading helps things fall into place more easily.

A long time ago I bought the Tolkien Encyclopedia; it helps with all the names and places. It also has maps which are helpful as the geography of Middle Earth seems to change with every new "age".

[DaveinGermany]

As for lighter reading,

September, the 3rd 1939. The last minutes of peace ticking away. Father and I were watching Mother dig our air-raid shelter. "She's a great little woman," said Father. "And getting smaller all the time," I added. Two minutes later, a man called Chamberlain who did Prime Minister impressions spoke on the wireless;

Adolf Hitler: My part in his downfall. Spike Milligan, the rest of the series are also worth a look.

Rommel, Gunner who ?
Monty: His part in my victory.
Mussolini: His part in my downfall.
Goodbye Soldier.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Oh son...I read all those books...must be thirty years ago.
I laughed so much....what a comic genius he was...and me with my pictorial imagination.

If you are going through a 'brown phase'(you know the kind of thing - you plant pansies and all that comes up is manure) or are a bit fed up with what life is dishing out to you, I would heartily recommend them.
They will make your sides ache and your eyes leak!

[mobertol]

"They were young, educated, and both virgins on this, their wedding night, and they lived in a time when a conversation about sexual difficulties was plainly impossible. But it is never easy."

Ian Mc Ewan: On Chesil Beach

Brilliant, touching and sad. Pocket sized book, great read.

[Eric]

Originally Posted by susie123

If we're going for poetry, Ozymandias by Shelley:

I met a traveller from an antique land

The imagery in the poem, of ancient statues in the desert, has stayed with me rather like the image conjured up by the opening of Metamorphosis.

I also go for Byron's The Eve of Waterloo, part of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage but also published separately:

There was a sound of revelry by night...

describing a ball followed by hasty preparations for the battle the following day, which of course ends in slaughter.

Love Ozymandias ... has a great last line too ... but if we start getting into that

Also "Sailing to Byzantium" ... "That is no country for old men." ... even tho' he got it from a movie title. And that's another can of literary worms ... movie and book titles filched from lit. "Gone With the Wind" ... "Splendor in the Grass" ... "Look Homeward Angel" ... "Soup to Nuts" (had to get the Stooges in somewhere; what's a thread without a click?" Arrrgh ... enough.

And now that I'm on a roll: Susie, go for the tomes ... and when you finish one you can use it to stand on so that you can reach stuff on your kitchen shelves

[mobertol]

Originally Posted by Eric

And now that I'm on a roll: Susie, go for the tomes ... and when you finish one you can use it to stand on so that you can reach stuff on your kitchen shelves

Very cheeky, Eric!

[mobertol]

Originally Posted by Eric

Love Ozymandias ... has a great last line too ... but if we start getting into that

You are right though - the possibilities are infinite.

[Eric]

Originally Posted by mobertol

Very cheeky, Eric!

Ain't that the truth But I did resist the temptation in another thread ....

[DaveinGermany]

I knew that one day I could become a famous writer or a famous whore. It was my spelling that let me down.

"Bare Nell", Leslie Thomas. Also enjoyed "The loves & journeys of revolving Jones"

[susie123]

Originally Posted by Eric

Ain't that the truth But I did resist the temptation in another thread ....

Yeah, you really made me wait for that one...

[kestrelx]

Originally Posted by DaveinGermany

I often re-read books, usually after a long enough interlude. Another evocative introduction is :-

In a hole in the ground lived a hobbit...

J.R.R Tolkien "The hobbit"

I read the Hobbit in early 80's a great book, havn't managed to read Lord of the Rings though!

Just picked up copy of "Slumdog Millionaire"...

"I have been arrested. For winning a quiz show. They came for me late last night, when even the stray dogs had gone off to sleep..."

[Boeing Guy]

"I was sick, sick unto death, with that long agony, and when they at length unbound me, and I was permitted to sit, I felt that my senses were leaving me."

Edgar Allen Poe, The Pit and the Pendulum.

[mobertol]

Originally Posted by Boeing Guy

"I was sick, sick unto death, with that long agony, and when they at length unbound me, and I was permitted to sit, I felt that my senses were leaving me."

Edgar Allen Poe, The Pit and the Pendulum.

Sounds a laugh a minute book!