Opening Lines of Books

I find that with certain books the opening line grabs me by the shirt collar. It demands my attention. It draws me on to read more. And moreover, often that opening line sticks with me.

It's odd how this works: not every classic book opens with a memorable line, and not every book that opens memorably is a great book. Sometimes we're talking just a few words, sometimes it runs on to paragraph length. And the writing of a lapidary opening seems to be much more an art than a science. Of course the prime example of a classic book which opens with an unforgettable line is Moby Dick: "Call me Ishmael."

Here are some opening lines which over the years have stuck with me. See if you can guess what books they come from— answers in the comments. Oh, and feel free to add examples of your own.

1. Friday afternoon in the universe...
   
   
2. Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can't be sure. The telegram from the Home says: YOUR MOTHER PASSED AWAY. FUNERAL TOMORROW. DEEP SYMPATHY. Which leaves the matter doubtful; it could have been yesterday.
   
   
3. It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
   
   
4. The stone door slammed. It was Cleaver's trademark: there had never been a door too heavy, complex, or cleverly tracked to prevent him from closing it with a sound like a clap of doom.
   
   
5. "Lot ninety-seven," the auctioneer announced. "A boy."
   
   
6. In watermelon sugar the deeds were done and done again as my life is done in watermelon sugar. I'll tell you about it because I am here and you are distant.
   
   
7. The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.
   
   
8. He was one hundred and seventy days dying and not yet dead. He fought for survival with the passion of a beast in a trap. He was delirious and rotting, but occasionally his primitive mind emerged from the burning nightmare of survival into something resembling sanity. Then he lifted his mute face to Eternity and muttered: "What's a matter, me? Help, you goddamn gods! Help, is all."
   
   
9. Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.
   
   
10. I am a very old man; how old I do not know. Possibly I am a hundred, possibly more; but I cannot tell because I have never aged as other men, nor do I remember any childhood. So far as I can recollect I have always been a man, a man of about thirty. I appear today as I did forty years and more ago...