Oddbean new post about login | logout There was a poll that stated—Rowling’s opening line in the HP series is one of best in the world. Someone posted about how there are a bunch of other opening statements that are better. Here’s one of my personal favorites, from Gabriel Garcia Marquez (in English): “It is inevitable. The scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.” What are some of your favorite opening lines in literature? 😊 @b2e37e2e #books #literature #writing #OpeningLines #bookstodon
@4eb58cf9 "The Scopuli had been taken eight days ago, and Julie Mao was finally ready to be shot." -- James S. A. Corey, Leviathan Wakes #bookstodon #OpeningLines
@4eb58cf9 @b2e37e2e Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday. I don’t know - Camus 124 was spiteful. Full of a baby’s venom - Morrison, Beloved I’m pretty much fucked. That’s my considered opinion - Weir, The Martian I decided Orion Lake had to die the second time he saved my life - Novik, Deadly Education If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book - Lemony Snickett, Series of Unfortunate Events (So many others)
@4eb58cf9 @b2e37e2e Not the best, but epic for me: "The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose in the Mountains of Mist. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning."
@4eb58cf9 @b2e37e2e #books #literature #writing #OpeningLines #bookstodon There had been something loose about the station dock all morning, skulking in amongst the gantries and the lines and the canisters which were waiting to be moved, lurking wherever shadows fell among the rampway accesses of the many ships at dock at Meetpoint. -CJ Cherryh, Pride of Chanur
@4eb58cf9 @b2e37e2e ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat.
@4eb58cf9 @b2e37e2e "Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday - I can't be sure. " - The Stranger "As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” - Metamorphosis "Listen - Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck in time." - Slaughterhouse Five "Marley was dead: to begin with." - A Christmas Carol "We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold." - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas