10 Novels With The Most Captivating Opening Lines Weve Read

10 Novels With The Most Captivating Opening Lines Weve Read Have you ever read a book that had your undivided attention right from the opening lines? It doesnt happen often, but when it does, a kind of magic happens that makes the book impossible to forget. Here are ten of our favorite opening lines that captivate from the start.The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark TwainThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark TwainYou dont know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that aint no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. That is nothing. I never seen anybody but lied one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe Mary.The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnFear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. ThompsonFear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. ThompsonWe were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive. . . . And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas.Fear and Loathing in Las VegasAn Untamed State by Roxane GayAn Untamed State by Roxane GayOnce upon a time, in a far-off land, I was kidnapped by a gang of fearless yet terrified young men with so much impossible hope beating inside their bodies it burned their very skin and strengthened their will right through their bones.An Untamed StateWild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl StrayedWild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl StrayedThe trees were tall, but I was taller, standing above them on a steep mountain slope in northern California. Moments before, Id removed my hiking boots and the left one had fallen into those trees, first catap ulting into the air when my enormous backpack toppled onto it, then skittering across the gravelly trail and flying over the edge. It bounced off of a rocky outcropping several feet beneath me before disappearing into the forest canopy below, impossible to retrieve. I let out a stunned gasp, though Id been in the wilderness thirty-eight days and by then Id come to know that anything could happen and that everything would. But that doesnt mean I wasnt shocked when it did.My boot was gone. Actually gone.Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific CrestLolita by Vladimir NabokovLolita by Vladimir NabokovLolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.LolitaFahrenheit 451 by Ray BradburyFahrenheit 451 by Ray BradburyIt was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. With the brass nozzle in his fist s, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history.Fahrenheit 451Fight Club by Chuck PalahniukFight Club by Chuck PalahniukTyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tylers pushing a gun in my mouth and saying, the first step to eternal life is you have to die. For a long time though, Tyler and I were best friends. People are always asking, did I know about Tyler Durden.The barrel of the gun pressed against the back of my throat, Tyler says, We really wont die.With my tongue I can feel the silencer holes we drilled into the barrel of the gun. Most of the noise a gunshot makes is expanding gases, and theres the tiny sonic boom a bullet makes because it travels so fast. To make a silencer, you just drill holes in the barrel of the gun, a lot of holes. This lets the gas esca pe and slows the bullet to below the speed of sound.You drill the holes wrong and the gun will blow off your hand. This isnt really death, Tyler says. Well be legend. We wont grow old.I tongue the barrel into my cheek and say, Tyler, youre thinking of vampires.Fight ClubThe Metamorphosis by Franz KafkaThe Metamorphosis by Franz KafkaAs Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was lying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his dome-like brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes.The MetamorphosisParadise by Toni MorrisonParadise by Toni MorrisonThey shoot the white girl first, but the rest they can take their time. No need to hurry out here. T hey are 17 miles from a town which has 90 miles between it and any other. Hiding places will be plentiful in the convent, but there is time, and the day has just begun. They are nine. Over twice the number of the women, they are obliged to stampede or kill, and they have the paraphernalia for either requirementrope, a palm leaf cross, handcuffs, mace, and sunglasses, along with clean, handsome guns.ParadiseBlood Meridian by Cormac McCarthyBlood Meridian by Cormac McCarthySee the child. He is pale and thin, he wears a thin and ragged linen shirt. He stokes the scullery fire. Outside lie dark turned fields with rags of snow and darker woods beyond that harbor yet a few last wolves. His folk are known for hewers of wood and drawers of water but in truth his father has been a schoolmaster. He lies in drink, he quotes from poets whose names are now lost. The boy crouches by the fire and watches him.Night of your birth. Thirty-three. The Leonids they were called. God how the stars did fal l. I looked for blackness, holes in the heavens. The Dipper stove.Blood Meridian