When reading a book, how important is the first line for you?

Question

There's just something about first lines in my case. I just love it when the first line simply takes my breath away and assures that this will be one great book to read. What about you? Any great first lines you'd like to share?

Catalina, I agree with you completely. Plus we both seem to love that famous Austen's line. Too witty not to keep reading!

Oh, and Maugham too! :)

Answer 1

Very! At one time, I rejected as too pedestrian any book that began with the word "the"! More recently (still quite a few years ago), as a friend was urging Susan Howatch's Glittering Images on me and I was protesting that I had outgrown Gothics, I opened the book and read, "My ordeal began one summer afternoon when I received a telephone call from the Archbishop of Canterbury." Who could resist? And of course there's that literary parlor game in which people quote opening lines and others try to identify them. You know--like "Last night I dreamed we went to--" or "In a hole in the ground lived--" Chuckling with recognition yet?

Answer 2

I love first lines, but more importantly, last lines. I love a clencher that just makes you stare at the page in awe. I read the first line, and then I flip to the last line, and if they're both spectacular, I buy it.

Best first line ever written: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a great fortune must be in want of a wife." ~Jane Austen "Pride and Prejudice"

Best last line ever written: "The sun rose, dispelling the mist, and she saw winding onwards as far as the eye could reach, among the rice fields, across a little river and through undulating country the path they were to follow: perhaps her faults and follies, the unhappiness she had suffered, were not entirely vain if she could follow the path that now she dimly discerned before her, not the path that kind funny old Waddington had spoken of that led nowither, but the path those dear nuns at the convent followed so humbly, the path that led to peace." ~W. Somerset Maughan, "The Painted Veil"

Answer 3

The first line is extremely important. The best first lines either provide a lot of sensory detail that thrust a reader directly into the scene. It is also good when they are short and declaratory; this makes me feel like the author has authority and is confident that he/she has an interesting story to tell.

My favorite short, declaratory intro line is also from my favorite book, The Power of One, by Bryce Courtenay. The line is: "This is what happened." In fact, that is the entire first paragraph. What a strong way to begin a book! You know, definitively, that there is a story here, and it compels the reader to continue.

For more on The Power of One, check out this article: http://worldliteratures.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_power_of_one

Answer 4

It's not the most important thing about a book to me, but I do love it when the first line grabs my attention--and then keeps on going! For instance, in Rebecca, the opening line is "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderly again." From that first sentence you want to know what Manderly is and why it is important. Daphne DeMauier (I'm sure I'm screwing up the spelling of her name) outdid herself by writing Rebecca in the first person and you never do find out this woman's name. Even more remarkable, in the 1939 version of the movie, they do an excellent job of converting the book into the movie. It is one of my favorite books and movies and I don't say that very often about books and movies.

Answer 5

Before I buy I book, I flip randomly to somewhere in the middle (never the beginning or the end) and start reading. So, I would say that avoiding a soggy middle is more important than a killer first line... so long as there is a good hook in there within the first few pages.

Answer 6

I don't assign much importance to the first line. The first page either has me interested or wondering if the book is a dud. If by the first chapter it hasn't provided the essentials, its over. I know many people feel the first line has to 'hook' the reader, but it also has to have some substance to accompany it or it just leaves you flat.

Answer 7

I've seen a few brilliant first lines, but my memory fails me. I think that the first line is the most important in the whole book. It has to hook the reader so that they need to keep reading. Whether you start it off with confusion or suspense, it has to make you want to know what's going on.

~Tiger

Answer 8

i worry greatly about fist lines. If the first line of a book does not catch my attention right away i will still force my self to read it but it may take me about a week b/c it might be boring i usuallty try not to judge the book by the first line but by the first chapter but of course that doesn't always work.
one of my favorites
"sunlight pierced the thick canopy formed by the branching limbs of the oak trees and dappled the century old marble monument....." by janet dailey in Heiress

Answer 9

i dont think first lines are very important to catch my attention with. after all it's just the first line. What matters is what comes after it.
Funnily enough, the last line holds the magic for me. The line with which an amazing story ends. That is what i like.

Answer 10

Not really that important. Its the first 30 to 50 pages that tell me whether I am going to be reading a good book or not.