Books With Our Favorite First Lines
- List of the Month
- June 2023 (see all)
- Description
- First impressions are powerful, and the first lines of the books we read can pack quite a punch. Our List of the Month this June is devoted to the books with our favorite first lines. Each participant may vote on ten titles. Please do not downvote titles, as judgment in these matters is subjective.
1
by Jane Austen
80,851 members
1,371 reviews
½ 4.4
Score 85.94
Added 2023-06-06, 03:36 PM
- 25 Members
- rosalita, anglemark, LadyUndomiel, magnetgrrl, mldg, dewasus1, lizzy50usa, saskia17, amanda4242, merrystar, victoriapeak, sturlington, kleh, susanbooks, michigantrumpet, ahef1963, AbigailAdams26, barefootsong, asiralh, Boand, steller0707, teesamai, loulourevisited, PeanutNoir, PureChaos
- Explanations
- amanda4242: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."
2
- 19 Members
- scampus, LadyUndomiel, kleo, yoyogod, abbottthomas, dewasus1, sharder, amanda4242, masterdeski, merrystar, perennialreader, ahef1963, flying_monkeys, timetunnel, msjudy, msemmag, barefootsong, mirryi, PeanutNoir
- Explanations
- amanda4242: "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."
3
- 17 Members
- rosalita, Cecilturtle, magnetgrrl, dewasus1, sturlington, kleh, perennialreader, Porua, souloftherose, tina1969, ahef1963, msemmag, Boand, steller0707, HH_Library, loulourevisited, PeanutNoir
- Explanations
- rosalita: "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again"
4
36,755 members
456 reviews
3.9
Score 52.16
Added 2023-06-08, 06:04 AM
- 17 Members
- LadyUndomiel, paradoxosalpha, lahochstetler, dewasus1, PitcherBooks, merrystar, kleh, perennialreader, Tess_W, Boand, CharlesTheB, TMCTX, Tosta, HH_Library, loulourevisited, PeanutNoir, PureChaos
- Explanations
- paradoxosalpha: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
5
- 16 Members
- lorax, Cecilturtle, paradoxosalpha, kleo, sturlington, souloftherose, susanbooks, katemcangus, al.vick, ahef1963, AntonioGallo, asiralh, steller0707, CharlesTheB, tekitora, PureChaos
- Explanations
- al.vick: "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."AntonioGallo: Phrases such as "Big Brother is watching you" and "doublethink" have entered the lexicon and are often used to describe similar situations in modern times.
6
38,874 members
723 reviews
4.2
Score 47.68
Added 2023-06-07, 09:12 AM
- 16 Members
- LadyUndomiel, paradoxosalpha, yoyogod, abbottthomas, elenchus, Porua, al.vick, ahef1963, kristilabrie, timetunnel, SandraArdnas, asiralh, steller0707, DoomLuz, PeanutNoir, PureChaos
- Explanations
- al.vick: "Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun."
7
by C. S. Lewis
25,487 members
258 reviews
4
Score 45.13
Added 2023-06-06, 03:44 PM
- 16 Members
- scampus, LadyUndomiel, sharder, lizzy50usa, saskia17, amanda4242, masterdeski, merrystar, sturlington, EMS_24, al.vick, ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda, asiralh, steller0707, slimikin
- Explanations
- ManWithAnAgenda: There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it
8
24,772 members
527 reviews
4.1
Score 42.09
Added 2023-06-07, 03:15 PM
- 13 Members
- hipdeep, anglemark, magnetgrrl, masterdeski, merrystar, dougb56586, souloftherose, Debashis.book, barefootsong, Boand, steller0707, HH_Library, slimikin
- Explanations
- merrystar: "Marley was dead, to begin with."
9
- 14 Members
- rosalita, Cecilturtle, LadyUndomiel, magnetgrrl, sturlington, RBeffa, katemcangus, Tess_W, barefootsong, steller0707, DoomLuz, slimikin, PeanutNoir, PureChaos
- Explanations
- rosalita: "IT WAS A PLEASURE TO BURN."
10
- 13 Members
- Cecilturtle, LadyUndomiel, lahochstetler, dewasus1, saskia17, Cecrow, PitcherBooks, kleh, perennialreader, katemcangus, Tess_W, CharlesTheB, HH_Library
- Explanations
- perennialreader: Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
11
- 12 Members
- dewasus1, lizzy50usa, saskia17, merrystar, EMS_24, perennialreader, souloftherose, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707, HH_Library, PeanutNoir, PureChaos
- Explanations
- ManWithAnAgenda: I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.
12
- 12 Members
- anglemark, pitjrw, abbottthomas, dewasus1, elenchus, victoriapeak, kleh, RBeffa, susanbooks, Boand, steller0707, loulourevisited
- Explanations
- susanbooks: The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.
13
9,797 members
433 reviews
3.9
Score 29.65
Added 2023-06-06, 03:41 PM
- 10 Members
- rosalita, pitjrw, sturlington, Porua, ahef1963, msemmag, ManWithAnAgenda, asiralh, steller0707, DoomLuz
- Explanations
- ManWithAnAgenda: No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream.
14
- 9 Members
- hipdeep, kleo, GuyMontag, Cecrow, elenchus, souloftherose, vwinsloe, timetunnel, Mguod
- Explanations
- Cecrow: "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."
15
by Karl Marx
15,140 members
138 reviews
½ 3.5
Score 23.07
Added 2023-06-07, 11:55 AM
- 8 Members
- paradoxosalpha, pitjrw, elenchus, kleh, susanbooks, ahef1963, elahrairah, PureChaos
- Explanations
- susanbooks: A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism.
16
39,552 members
961 reviews
4
Score 22.57
Added 2023-06-06, 11:07 PM
- 8 Members
- Aquila, Cecilturtle, LadyUndomiel, dewasus1, masterdeski, TMCTX, Tosta, PureChaos
- Explanations
- Aquila: "It was a dark and stormy night."
17
- 7 Members
- scampus, dewasus1, saskia17, Tess_W, al.vick, AbigailAdams26, barefootsong
- Explanations
- AbigailAdams26: “All children, except one, grow up."
18
44,493 members
697 reviews
4.2
Score 20.18
Added 2023-06-07, 12:04 PM
- 6 Members
- lorax, pitjrw, kleo, perennialreader, SandraArdnas, CharlesTheB
- Explanations
- SandraArdnas: Many years later as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. (...) The world was so recent that many things lacked names
19
- 6 Members
- paradoxosalpha, magnetgrrl, elenchus, AntonioGallo, barefootsong, slimikin
- Explanations
- paradoxosalpha: When I had journeyed half of our life's way, I found myself within a shadowed forest, for I had lost the path that does not stray.AntonioGallo: I prefer "Inferno" since it is known for its exploration of moral and ethical issues. Dante uses the sins and punishments of the various characters to comment on the nature of sin, justice, and divine retribution. This gives the book a timeless quality that continues to resonate with readers today. Life, sometimes, is just like Inferno
20
- 6 Members
- lahochstetler, susanbooks, msemmag, ManWithAnAgenda, Tosta, HH_Library
- Explanations
- ManWithAnAgenda: It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York.
21
- 5 Members
- lizzy50usa, souloftherose, asiralh, Tosta, slimikin
- Explanations
- souloftherose: "I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module..."
22
- 5 Members
- lahochstetler, sturlington, msemmag, teesamai, jsclar
- Explanations
- sturlington: The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.
23
18,516 members
1,265 reviews
4.1
Score 14.69
Added 2023-06-09, 08:10 PM
- 5 Members
- saskia17, flying_monkeys, msjudy, Tosta, HH_Library
- Explanations
- saskia17: The circus arrives without warning.
24
44,092 members
706 reviews
4.1
Score 14.54
Added 2023-06-07, 12:13 PM
- 5 Members
- rosalita, elenchus, ahef1963, SandraArdnas, Tosta
- Explanations
- SandraArdnas: All this happened, more or less.
25
- 5 Members
- chin2chin, masterdeski, Tess_W, al.vick, HH_Library
- Explanations
- al.vick: Prologue: "People disappear all the time."
26
- 5 Members
- Cecilturtle, lahochstetler, elenchus, rodwms, PureChaos
27
- 5 Members
- Cecrow, CharlesTheB, Tosta, HH_Library, loulourevisited
- Explanations
- Cecrow: "Call me Ishmael."
28
24,906 members
531 reviews
½ 4.3
Score 13.72
Added 2023-06-07, 01:20 AM
29
12,540 members
258 reviews
4.1
Score 13.02
Added 2023-06-16, 02:59 AM
- 4 Members
- anglemark, msemmag, CharlesTheB, kay.emme
- Explanations
- anglemark: "You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, 'If on a winter's night a traveler'."
30
- 4 Members
- al.vick, timetunnel, HH_Library, PatrickBenner
- Explanations
- al.vick: "I'm pretty much fucked."
31
- 4 Members
- otori, kleh, perennialreader, loulourevisited
- Explanations
- otori: “I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills.”perennialreader: I had a Farm in Africa.
32
by Henry James
10,762 members
125 reviews
3.9
Score 11.06
Added 2023-06-06, 03:42 PM
- 4 Members
- PitcherBooks, EMS_24, ManWithAnAgenda, Boand
- Explanations
- ManWithAnAgenda: Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.
33
- 4 Members
- amanda4242, susanbooks, barefootsong, slimikin
- Explanations
- amanda4242: "No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be an heroine."
34
- 3 Members
- scampus, ianreads, sturlington
- Explanations
- sturlington: The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.
35
478 members
12 reviews
3.8
Score 9.94
Added 2023-06-08, 12:11 AM
- 4 Members
- paradoxosalpha, magnetgrrl, yoyogod, elenchus
- Explanations
- yoyogod: The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.
36
37
- 4 Members
- scampus, elenchus, susanbooks, ManWithAnAgenda
- Explanations
- susanbooks: Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin.
38
15,962 members
384 reviews
4
Score 9.4
Added 2023-06-06, 10:55 PM
39
- 3 Members
- anglemark, sharder, loulourevisited
- Explanations
- anglemark: μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος / οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί᾽ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε᾽ ἔθηκε
40
- 3 Members
- sharder, barefootsong, Mark.Milton
- Explanations
- barefootsong: "Lyra and her dæmon moved through the darkening hall, taking care to keep to one side, out of sight of the kitchen."
41
42
- 3 Members
- Cecilturtle, Boand, CharlesTheB
- Explanations
- Cecilturtle: Aujourd'hui, maman est morte. Ou peut-être hier, je ne sais pas.
43
- 3 Members
- Cecilturtle, kleh, susanbooks
- Explanations
- susanbooks: For a long time I used to go to bed early.
44
- 3 Members
- anglemark, kristilabrie, msemmag
- Explanations
- kristilabrie: "Have you ever tasted a Whitstable oyster?"
45
by Jon Stone
5,188 members
105 reviews
½ 4.5
Score 7.84
Added 2023-06-15, 11:29 PM
- 3 Members
- hipdeep, EerierIdyllMeme, lahochstetler
- Explanations
- EerierIdyllMeme: On the copyright page: "This is a very dull page. What is on the next page?"
46
- 3 Members
- saskia17, PitcherBooks, merrystar
- Explanations
- saskia17: Everything starts somewhere, though many physicists disagree.
47
by Tom Robbins
5,786 members
75 reviews
3.9
Score 7.04
Added 2023-06-07, 08:10 AM
- 2 Members
- vwinsloe, SandraArdnas
- Explanations
- vwinsloe: "If this typewriter can't do it, then fuck it, it can't be done."
48
17,514 members
425 reviews
½ 4.3
Score 6.75
Added 2023-06-12, 06:16 PM
- 3 Members
- merrystar, sturlington, ManWithAnAgenda
- Explanations
- sturlington: There was once a boy named Milo who didn't know what to do with himself—not just sometimes, but always.
49
50
- 2 Members
- SavvyScot, amanda4242
- Explanations
- amanda4242: "to wound the autumnal city."
51
19,158 members
346 reviews
4
Score 6.46
Added 2023-06-09, 08:09 PM
52
- 2 Members
- msjudy, PeanutNoir
- Explanations
- PeanutNoir: "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."
53
by Isak Dinesen
2,112 members
22 reviews
4
Score 6.4
Added 2023-06-14, 08:39 PM
- 2 Members
- victoriapeak, RBeffa
- Explanations
- RBeffa: I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills.
54
- 2 Members
- LadyUndomiel, asiralh
- Explanations
- asiralh: “Once upon a time on a small, watery, excitable planet called Earth, in a small, watery, excitable country called Italy, a soft-spoken, rather nice-looking young gentleman by the name of Enrico Fermi was born into a family so overprotective that he felt compelled to invent the atomic bomb.”
55
by H. G. Wells
18,462 members
309 reviews
3.8
Score 6.25
Added 2023-06-11, 02:14 PM
- 2 Members
- hipdeep, fvenez
- Explanations
- hipdeep: No one would have believed, in the last years of the nineteenth century, that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were being scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinize the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water.
56
- 2 Members
- rosalita, abbottthomas
- Explanations
- abbottthomas: It was about eleven o'clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills.
57
- 2 Members
- paradoxosalpha, SandraArdnas
- Explanations
- paradoxosalpha: There were angels in the glass, two four six many of them, each one shuffling into his place in line like an alderman at the Lord Mayor's show.
58
59
60
61
62
2,364 members
35 reviews
3.8
Score 5.42
Added 2023-06-20, 05:31 PM
63
1,264 members
37 reviews
3.8
Score 5.35
Added 2023-06-06, 05:03 PM
- 2 Members
- pitjrw, perennialreader
- Explanations
- perennialreader: Take my camel, dear, said my aunt Dot, as she climbed down from this animal on her return from High Mass.
64
6,547 members
170 reviews
3.9
Score 5.29
Added 2023-06-06, 02:58 PM
- 2 Members
- rosalita, katemcangus
- Explanations
- rosalita: "A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which, to look ahead."
65
by James Joyce
21,250 members
217 reviews
½ 3.7
Score 5.21
Added 2023-06-07, 12:06 PM
- 2 Members
- Cecrow, CharlesTheB
- Explanations
- Cecrow: "Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo...."
66
by Harper Lee
78,653 members
1,433 reviews
½ 4.4
Score 5.13
Added 2023-06-06, 05:13 PM
- 2 Members
- kleo, perennialreader
- Explanations
- perennialreader: When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.
67
30,563 members
452 reviews
4.1
Score 5.02
Added 2023-06-14, 12:27 PM
- 2 Members
- CharlesTheB, loulourevisited
68
- 2 Members
- paradoxosalpha, elenchus
- Explanations
- paradoxosalpha: Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyler's pushing a gun in my mouth and saying, the first step to eternal life is you have to die.
69
- 2 Members
- al.vick, SandraArdnas
- Explanations
- al.vick: "This isn't at all what I expected. In 1985, by some sort of journalistic accident I was sent to Madagascar with Mark Carwardine to look for an almost extinct form of lemur called the aye-aye. None of the three of us had ever met before. I had never met Mark, Mark had never met me, and no one, apparently, had seen an aye-aye in years."
70
- 2 Members
- EerierIdyllMeme, CharlesTheB
- Explanations
- EerierIdyllMeme: There once lived, at a series of temporary addresses across the United States of America, a traveling man of Indian origin, advancing years, and retreating mental powers, who, on account of his love for mindless television, had spent far too much of his life in the yellow light of tawdry motel rooms watching an excess of it, and had suffered a peculiar form of brain damage as a result.
71
1 member
Score 4.87
Added 2023-06-14, 04:55 PM
72
18,782 members
886 reviews
½ 4.3
Score 4.77
Added 2023-06-20, 06:06 PM
73
74
75
18,164 members
449 reviews
3.9
Score 4
Added 2023-06-09, 02:42 PM
- Member
- kristilabrie
- Explanations
- kristilabrie: "In eighteenth century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages."
76
13,965 members
246 reviews
4.1
Score 4
Added 2023-07-02, 10:57 AM
77
- Member
- Micheller7
- Explanations
- Micheller7: “It was Wang Lung’s wedding day.” I have remembered this line for about 65 years.
78
- Member
- dud5ers
79
- Member
- sharder
80
12,232 members
120 reviews
3.9
Score 4
Added 2023-06-15, 10:13 PM
- Member
- EerierIdyllMeme
- Explanations
- EerierIdyllMeme: It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on Earth has ever produced the expression "as pretty as an airport".
81
- Member
- paradoxosalpha
- Explanations
- paradoxosalpha: A screaming comes across the sky.
82
83
by Michel Faber
6,750 members
197 reviews
3.9
Score 4
Added 2023-06-07, 05:30 AM
84
6,612 members
125 reviews
½ 4.3
Score 4
Added 2023-06-06, 04:56 PM
- Member
- perennialreader
- Explanations
- perennialreader: So gorgeous was the spectacle on the May morning of 1910 when nine kings rode in the funeral of Edward VII of England that the crowd, waiting in hushed and black-clad awe, could not keep back gasps of admiration.
85
86
87
88
- Member
- LibraryCin
- Explanations
- LibraryCin: Three days before her death, my mother told me -- these weren't her last words, but they were pretty lose -- that my brother was still alive.
89
3,467 members
132 reviews
½ 3.7
Score 4
Added 2023-06-19, 09:31 PM
- Member
- PeanutNoir
- Explanations
- PeanutNoir: "They threw me off the hay truck about noon."
90
91
- Member
- exhocforte
- Explanations
- exhocforte: "It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me."
92
- Member
- abbottthomas
- Explanations
- abbottthomas: Mr Salteena was an elderly man of 42 and was fond of asking peaple to stay with him.
93
- Member
- barefootsong
- Explanations
- barefootsong: "When I was nine years old, I hid under a table and heard my sister kill a king." This first line has stuck with me since I first read this in sixth grade.
94
95
- Member
- AbigailAdams26
- Explanations
- AbigailAdams26: Mr. C'Mere's first line: "Humans were diggers and buriers, the cat thought, like dogs." Zoë's first line: "I'd hoped for better, Henry's being a heart doctor. A job like that, you'd think he might actually have a heart."
96
100 members
1 review
4
Score 4
Added 2023-06-13, 03:30 PM
- Member
- prosfilaes
- Explanations
- prosfilaes: It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents—except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.
97
- Member
- EMS_24
- Explanations
- EMS_24: 'Except for the man who thought Sarphatistraat was the most beautiful place in Europe, I have never known a more curious fellow than the 'bummer/ deadbeat/ .'' - "Behalve den man, die de Sarphatistraat de mooiste plek van Europa vond, heb ik nooit een wonderlijker kerel gekend dan den uitvreter."
98
100
- Member
- katemcangus