I have a good memory for the first lines of books. A good book usually starts with an impressionable line. Here are a few that I remember:
“The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit.” - Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
“I was born singing. Most babies cry. I sang an aria.” - Fairest by Gail Carson Levine
“That fool of a fairy Lucinda did not intend to lay a curse on me. She meant to bestow a gift.” - Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.” - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
“The two men appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart in the narrow, moonlit lane.” - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
“I remember being born.” - Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
“I wake up. Immediately I have to figure out who I am.” - Every Day by David Levithan
“There was once a young man who wished to gain his heart’s desire.” - Stardust by Neil Gaiman.
“The king killed my canary today.” - Goose Chase by Patrice Kindl
“In these dungeons the darkness was complete, but Katsa had a map in her mind.” - Graceling by Kristin Cashore.
“’You’ve got to be kidding me,’ the bouncer said, folding his arms across his massive chest.” - City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
“I lie all the time.” - Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
“There was a boy in her room.” - Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
“There is one mirror in my house.” - Divergent by Veronica Roth
“If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book.” The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
“Airports are torture chambers if you’re claustrophobic.” - The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith
“It was not all that different from a circus, and it came into town much the same way. Only instead of elephants and giraffes, there were cameras and microphones.” - This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith
As you can see, the most memorable ones tend to be quite odd or strongly related to the themes of the novel (such as in Stardust and Every Day). The ones in bold are my favorites of the bunch. What do you guys think? Do you have any favorite first lines from other novels?
