Anna Gutmann
from Ohio is reading American GodsOctober 10, 2015 - 4:57pm
This thread has added so many books to my to-be-read list ... Keep 'me coming! :-)
Nick
from Toronto is reading Adjustment DayOctober 29, 2016 - 11:34am
KateRose
from Chicago is reading The Making of a StoryNovember 9, 2016 - 12:03pm
"You could not tell if you were a bird descending (and there was a bird descending, a vulture) if the naked man was dead or alive."
Jim Harrison's Revenge
MattF
from Tokyo is reading Borges' Collected FictionsNovember 11, 2016 - 3:36am
KateRose, I just read Legends of the Fall after Jim Harrison's passing, a long overdue introduction to his work--for years I'd been entertained/intrigued by stories about Jim Harrison, but never actually read him. A great writer, and truly fun to read (which can be a rare combination).
Community Manager
helpfulsnowman
from Colorado is reading But What If We're Wrong? by Chuck KlostermanNovember 11, 2016 - 6:31pm
"As my exciting story begins, I'm being punched in the stomach."
-The Time Machine Did It by John Swartzwelder.
In the interest of full disclosure, first sentence of paragraph 2. But I consider it the book's opening and have never forgotten it.
Ian Muller
from Seattle, WA is reading Long Form Religious Porn by Laura Lee Bahr.November 12, 2016 - 4:08pm
My all-time favorite, and one that captures the rough tone for the rest of the book:
"You think you know pain?"--Jack Ketchum, The Girl Next Door.
IanV
from Seattle is reading In the Valley of the Sun—Andy Davidson November 20, 2016 - 5:25pm
‘“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”
-William Gibson, Neuromancer
and seeing that Christmas season approaches:
"Nicholas Was...
older than sin, and his beard could grow no whiter. He wanted to die."
- Neil Gaiman, Nicholas Was
Hughes Dufour
from Montreal is reading Can't and Won't StoriesJanuary 7, 2017 - 10:21am
For a man of his age, fifty-two, divorced, he has, to his mind, solved the problem of sex rather well.
Disgrace, by J. M. Coetzee
Mike Roberts
from Kingston, Ontario is reading Julia CameronFebruary 13, 2017 - 9:24pm
"She had lost track of the road ten minutes earlier."
tishkbob
from Texas is reading Nexus by Ramez NaamFebruary 18, 2017 - 9:48am
Love all the answers so far!
The best first line I've ever read - one that guaranteed I wouldn't be able to put the book down until I had answers - was from High-Rise by J.G. Ballard: "Later, 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."
It only gets more surreal and disturbing from there.
Thuggish
from Vegas is reading Day of the JackalFebruary 18, 2017 - 1:58pm
Not sure if this is the best, but I like them. This book kind of has more than one first line...
"I was never going to amount to much anyway, but now, statistically speaking, there's a better chance that some part of me will go on to greatness somewhere in the world. I'd rather be partly great than entirely useless."
—SAMSON WARD
"There are places you can go," Ariana tells him, "and a guy as smart as you has a decent chance of surviving to eighteen."
Both come from Unwind, by Neal Shusterman.
Eric Romm
from I'm from California
February 21, 2017 - 3:00am
'A WIDE plain, where the broadening Floss hurries on between its green banks to the sea, and the loving tide, rushing to meet it, checks its passage with an impetuous embrace.' from The Mill On The Floss That is some poetic stuff!
lorettapolaski
from Indiana is reading The Honest SpyDecember 1, 2017 - 8:30pm
Ok, this thread is old, but wow, I could read these all over and over for the stir it causes in my middle brain.
treys2214
December 11, 2017 - 8:14pm
Albert Camus' opening to The Stranger or the beginning of The Metamorphosis by Kafka.
Ronzermonster
from Portland, OR is reading Forture SmilesDecember 23, 2017 - 7:20pm
"Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and razor lay crossed."
- Ulysses, James Joyce
Community Manager
helpfulsnowman
from Colorado is reading But What If We're Wrong? by Chuck KlostermanJanuary 30, 2018 - 6:24pm
Here's one from a Raymond Carver short story:
A man without hands came to the door to sell me a photograph of my house.
How badly would you want to hear the rest if your friend said this?
StephAustin
from Phoenix, AZ is reading Best American Nonrequired Reading 2016February 28, 2018 - 10:41am
"People are afraid to merge on the freeways in Los Angeles."
Bret Easton Ellis, Less Than Zero
WilliamConway
from Vermont is reading American GodsMarch 1, 2018 - 2:20pm
Knock by Fredric Brown
"The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door..."
This thread has added so many books to my to-be-read list ... Keep 'me coming! :-)
"You could not tell if you were a bird descending (and there was a bird descending, a vulture) if the naked man was dead or alive."
Jim Harrison's Revenge
KateRose, I just read Legends of the Fall after Jim Harrison's passing, a long overdue introduction to his work--for years I'd been entertained/intrigued by stories about Jim Harrison, but never actually read him. A great writer, and truly fun to read (which can be a rare combination).
"As my exciting story begins, I'm being punched in the stomach."
-The Time Machine Did It by John Swartzwelder.
In the interest of full disclosure, first sentence of paragraph 2. But I consider it the book's opening and have never forgotten it.
My all-time favorite, and one that captures the rough tone for the rest of the book:
"You think you know pain?"--Jack Ketchum, The Girl Next Door.
‘“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”
-William Gibson, Neuromancer
and seeing that Christmas season approaches:
"Nicholas Was...
older than sin, and his beard could grow no whiter. He wanted to die."
- Neil Gaiman, Nicholas Was
"She had lost track of the road ten minutes earlier."
Love all the answers so far!
The best first line I've ever read - one that guaranteed I wouldn't be able to put the book down until I had answers - was from High-Rise by J.G. Ballard: "Later, 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."
It only gets more surreal and disturbing from there.
Not sure if this is the best, but I like them. This book kind of has more than one first line...
Both come from Unwind, by Neal Shusterman.
'A WIDE plain, where the broadening Floss hurries on between its green banks to the sea, and the loving tide, rushing to meet it, checks its passage with an impetuous embrace.' from The Mill On The Floss That is some poetic stuff!
Ok, this thread is old, but wow, I could read these all over and over for the stir it causes in my middle brain.
Albert Camus' opening to The Stranger or the beginning of The Metamorphosis by Kafka.
"Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and razor lay crossed."
- Ulysses, James Joyce
Here's one from a Raymond Carver short story:
How badly would you want to hear the rest if your friend said this?
"People are afraid to merge on the freeways in Los Angeles."
Bret Easton Ellis, Less Than Zero
Knock by Fredric Brown
"The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door..."