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the first-lines meme
i had to really focus to think of "favorite novels" (insert everyone else's objections to the concept here) and then go find their first lines, instead of thinking of favorite first lines. sometimes they match up pretty well, but my first two thoughts were "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again" and "Mum died today" (or, actually, "Aujourd'hui maman est morte") -- but those aren't books i especially care for, really.
anyway. in some vague order approximately related to preference (today):
1. In later years, holding forth to an interviewer or to an audience of aging fans at a comic book convention, Sam Clay liked to declare, apropos of his and Joe Kavalier's greatest creation, that back when he was a boy, sealed and hog-tied inside the airtight vessel known as Brooklyn, New York, he had been haunted by dreams of Harry Houdini. (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon)
2. Taran wanted to make a sword; but Coll, charged with the practical side of his education, decided on horseshoes. (The Book of Three, by Lloyd Alexander)
3. Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. (The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams)
4. I reached out a hand from under the blankets and rang the bell for Jeeves. (The Code of the Woosters, by P.G. Wodehouse)
5. There once was a boy named Milo who didn't know what to do with himself -- not just sometimes, but always. (The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster)
6. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays it was Court Hand and Summulae Logicales, while the rest of the week it was the Organon, Repetition and Astrology. (The Once and Future King, by T.H. White) (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cmshaw beat me to this one, but i'm keeping it anyway.)
7. Truth be told, I'm not an easy man. (Straight Man, by Richard Russo)
8. I WILL NOT: drink more than fourteen alcohol units a week. (Bridget Jones's Diary, by Helen Fielding)
9. The old ram stands looking down over rockslides, stupidly triumphant. (Grendel, by John Gardner)
10. For the first fifteen years of our lives, Danny and I lived within five blocks of each other and neither of us knew of the other's existence. (The Chosen, by Chaim Potok)
anyway. in some vague order approximately related to preference (today):
1. In later years, holding forth to an interviewer or to an audience of aging fans at a comic book convention, Sam Clay liked to declare, apropos of his and Joe Kavalier's greatest creation, that back when he was a boy, sealed and hog-tied inside the airtight vessel known as Brooklyn, New York, he had been haunted by dreams of Harry Houdini. (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon)
2. Taran wanted to make a sword; but Coll, charged with the practical side of his education, decided on horseshoes. (The Book of Three, by Lloyd Alexander)
3. Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. (The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams)
4. I reached out a hand from under the blankets and rang the bell for Jeeves. (The Code of the Woosters, by P.G. Wodehouse)
5. There once was a boy named Milo who didn't know what to do with himself -- not just sometimes, but always. (The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster)
6. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays it was Court Hand and Summulae Logicales, while the rest of the week it was the Organon, Repetition and Astrology. (The Once and Future King, by T.H. White) (
cmshaw beat me to this one, but i'm keeping it anyway.)7. Truth be told, I'm not an easy man. (Straight Man, by Richard Russo)
8. I WILL NOT: drink more than fourteen alcohol units a week. (Bridget Jones's Diary, by Helen Fielding)
9. The old ram stands looking down over rockslides, stupidly triumphant. (Grendel, by John Gardner)
10. For the first fifteen years of our lives, Danny and I lived within five blocks of each other and neither of us knew of the other's existence. (The Chosen, by Chaim Potok)