Openers

"The door to my office slid open. “Hello” I said, rising from my chair. “You must be my nine o’..."

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 11:00:00 -0400

“The door to my office slid open. “Hello” I said, rising from my chair. “You must be my nine o’ clock.””

- The first sentence from “Red Planet Blues” by Robert J. Sawyer.

"124 was spiteful. Full of a baby’s venom. The women in the house knew it and so did the children."

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 11:00:45 -0400

“124 was spiteful. Full of a baby’s venom. The women in the house knew it and so did the children.”

- The first sentence from “Beloved” by Toni Morrison.

"Today, I’m five. I was four last night going to sleep in Wardrobe, but when I wake up in Bed in the..."

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:40:21 -0400

“Today, I’m five. I was four last night going to sleep in Wardrobe, but when I wake up in Bed in the dark I’m changed to five, abracadabra.””

- The first sentence from “Room” by Emma Donoghue.

"A dark-skinned human with four arms walks toward me across the floor of the club, clad only in a..."

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 11:00:23 -0400

“A dark-skinned human with four arms walks toward me across the floor of the club, clad only in a belt strung with human skulls.”

- The first sentence from “Glasshouse” by Charles Stross.

"We slept in what had once been the gymnasium."

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 14:05:00 -0500

“We slept in what had once been the gymnasium.”

- The first sentence from “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Magaret Atwood.

"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly..."

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 18:25:00 -0500

“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.”

- The first sentence from “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” (Book I of the Harry Potter series) by J.K. Rowling.

"We meet in airports. We meet in cities where we’ve never been before. We meet where no one will..."

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 13:05:00 -0400

“We meet in airports. We meet in cities where we’ve never been before. We meet where no one will recognize us.”

- The first sentence from “The Kiss” by Kathryn Harrison.

"They were young, educated, and both virgins, on this, their wedding night, and they lived in a time..."

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 09:29:00 -0400

“They were young, educated, and both virgins, on this, their wedding night, and they lived in a time when conversation about sexual difficulties was plainly impossible.”

- The first sentence from “On Chesil Beach” by Ian McEwan.

"He—for there could be no doubt of his sex, though the fashion of the time did something to disguise..."

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:04:00 -0400

“He—for there could be no doubt of his sex, though the fashion of the time did something to disguise it—was in the act of slicing at the head of a Moor which swung from the rafters.”

- The first sentence from “Orlando” by Virginia Woolf.

"Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it..."

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 10:03:00 -0400

“Life changes fast.
Life changes in the instant.
You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.
The question of self-pity.”

- The first sentence from “The Year Of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion.

"On an exceptionally hot evening early in July a young man came out of the garret in which he lodged..."

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 10:17:00 -0400

“On an exceptionally hot evening early in July a young man came out of the garret in which he lodged in S. Place and walked slowly, as though in hesitation, towards K. Bridge.”

- The first sentence from “Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

"Seldon paused in surprise. In the afternoon rush of the Grand Central Station his eyes had been..."

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 11:07:00 -0400

“Seldon paused in surprise. In the afternoon rush of the Grand Central Station his eyes had been refreshed by the sight of Miss Lily Bart.”

- The first sentence from “The House of Mirth” by Edith Wharton.

"Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways."

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 13:17:00 -0400

“Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways.”

- The first sentence from “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (Book III of the Harry Potter series) by J.K. Rowling.

"Major Pettigrew was still upset about the phone call from his brother’s wife and so he answered the..."

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 12:29:00 -0400

“Major Pettigrew was still upset about the phone call from his brother’s wife and so he answered the doorbell without thinking.”

- The first sentence from “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand” by Helen Simonson.

"The taxi’s radio was tuned to a classical FM broadcast."

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 16:24:00 -0400

“The taxi’s radio was tuned to a classical FM broadcast.”

- “1Q84” by Haruki Murakami.

"Through this evening’s tide of faces unregistered, unrecognized, amid hurrying black shoes, furled..."

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 11:58:00 -0400

“Through this evening’s tide of faces unregistered, unrecognized, amid hurrying black shoes, furled umbrellas, the crowd descending like a single organism into the station’s airless heart, comes Shinva Yamazaki, his notebook clasped beneath his arm like the egg case of some modest but moderately successful marine species.””

- The first sentence from “All Tomorrow’s Parties” by William Gibson.

"We can never know what we want, because living only one life, we can neither compare it with our..."

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 11:49:00 -0400

“We can never know what we want, because living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in the lives to come. There is no means of testing which decision is better because there is no basis for comparison.”

- The first sentence from “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” by Milan Kundera.

"Not for the first time, an argument had broken out over breakfast at number four, Privet Drive."

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 09:26:00 -0400

“Not for the first time, an argument had broken out over breakfast at number four, Privet Drive.”

- The first sentence from “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (Book II in the Harry Potter series) by J.K. Rowling.

"There are certain idiosyncratic notions that you quietly come to accept when you live for a long..."

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 11:28:00 -0400

“There are certain idiosyncratic notions that you quietly come to accept when you live for a long time in Britain.”

- The first sentence from “Notes From A Small Island” by Bill Bryson.

"I wish Giovanni would kiss me."

Sat, 21 Jul 2012 11:10:00 -0400

“I wish Giovanni would kiss me.”

- The first sentence from “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert.