83 Famous Opening Lines of Books That Have Hooked Readers for Decades

A true must read :) Specially if you want to know the answer to life, universe and everything ^^

Great novel! And yes, it was better than the movie, because you are able to get inside Mark Watney's brain.

I'm a huge SciFi reader, but never could get interested in him for some reason. I've always been an H. Beam Piper sort of fellow. ;D

To this day I'm still trying to decide which is most depressing; this one or "Brave New World".

I loved this book & even though I tend to be an optimist, I've read a lot of dark Russian literature

I can think of a few people right now who would do well to remember the same.

I remember hearing this line, getting interested, and then hearing a summary and being less interested for some reason.

This grabs & intrigues me

Such a fun book!

Let's hope and pray it was meant figuratively and not literally. 😱

unless he wants a husband.

That "thank you very much" sells it and hooked me from the frist sentence.

"looking to the LEFT because you never treated me right... Looking to the RIGHT because you left me...looking DOWN because you messed me up... looking UP because you let me down...

All children, except one, grow up, and now he's President, so help us.

This book was, like so many on this list, much better the second time I read them, as an adult and not for an assignment in school!

Profound statement .

...and the law is a flaw

Ive read this! I really really enjoyed it. The only similarity to the film is at the beginning, the introduction. The book itself is simply a whole new world. Its hard to explain but the best i can do is say it was simply the best, it made me feel like a child again

Mind-bending brilliance.

"This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."

Cannot stand what they made in the movies from this series.

This book was one I hated when I was a teenager, but then laughed about when I was an adult.

I love Anne Tyler, in spite of the lumps in the throat!

That just sounds kind of silly.

I have a big volume of all of the Wonderland stories and poems, they've been some of my favourites since childhood.

Everybody should read this book. It stays with you

Its so amazing how people believe its about love when its about pedophilia and abuse :/

Love in Time of Cholera by him was even better - amazing author

:D "Cherchez la femme," as we say in French: "look for the woman," when there is trouble with a man. (Meaning, look for the woman he is trying to impress.)

Now that IS intriguing.

Should've started with: "Call me crazy, but this book is brimming with descriptions that mask the simplistic storyline."

With so many rules that apply to grammar and pronunciation, absolutely.

Are you sure this isn't the first line to Tracks by Louise Erdrich?

Ladies and gentlemen, Charles "the Destitute Porn" Dickens...

Ah, more Russian literature.....

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I read this in grade school, and was mesmerized by it at the time. I'm almost afraid to give it a go once more, because I may be disappointed.

My teacher read both "Tom Sawyer" and this one to the class, and we all loved it. As I grew older, I read them personally, and still can't make up my mind which of the two I like best. It must be the "Rugged Individualism" in Mr. Clemens that I found so appealing, and is probably why I am such an H.Beam Piper follower.

One of my all time favorite children's books. I'm not ashamed to say that I boo-hooed through the movie either.

This book was my introduction to Kurt Vonnegut.

This is my favourite of the Narnia books

This is one of those that stood the test of time bloody well.

Ah, who else would tilt at windmills. Good book !

Loved the book & didn't find it a snooze at all !

Ah Samuel Beckett, master of insignificance.

Wait for the rest of it. "Or maybe yesterday; I can't be sure." Incredible start!

This is a great book. I really do like the movie, but the book is from the perspective of Chief Bromden, whom I consider much more interesting than McMurphy.

One of my all-time favorites. I remember I loved this book from the very first sentence.

Hated this book !!!

Once upon a time, growing up, I read a short story "The Star". It made such an impression on me that I just had to read more Clarke. I couldn't find 2001 at the time, but did locate "The City and the Stars", and "Rendezvous with Rama". By the time I managed to get a copy of 2001, I was already mesmerized by O'Neil Cylinders, and this work was a little bit of a put-down. His dry English prose may have been the reason why.

Unlike the most horror movies then

Read it many moons ago.

Sad but good at the same time.

Love this book. Had to read it three times to understand it, but well worth it.

This is a great book and Greene is a fabulous author

This is from the Paul Auster book of the same name, not Douglas Copland's!

Yup, I was also quite surprised by this first line. I wondered if the book would be interesting to me... Then I read it in a matter of two days.

I read the entire trilogy back to back over two days. I think I only paused for bodily necessities and to close my eyes and mutter 'No no no!' every now and then. I would highly recommend it!

She knows how to catch the readers, not only the criminals.