First Lines

I had mentioned my own obsession with first lines to one group when you did your Therapeutic Thursdays over first lines. As I said, it's really fascinating to go back and read a first line once you have completed the book to sort of see if the author delivered on his or her promise/negotiation with you, as well as to see if the first line wove through the rest of the book. I just went through my shelves here in my classroom and looked at my favorites to see how the lines measure up to the books. I have to say, I was really interested and thrilled to read them. Here are just a few of my favorites from my shelves here at school:

"Those old cows knew trouble was coming before we did."
~Jeanette Walls, Half-Broke Horses

"Dear friend, I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand and didn't try to sleep with that person at that party even though you could have."
~Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

"I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975."
~Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner

"When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy. I would figure out this or that way and run it through my head until it got easy."
~Kaye Gibbons, Ellen Foster

"I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a dumpster."
~Jeanette Walls, The Glass Castle

"Most days I wish I was a British pound coin instead of an African girl. Everyone would see me coming. Maybe I would visit with you for the weekend and then suddenly, because I am fickle like that, I would visit with the man from the corner shop instead-- but you would not be sad because you would be eating a cinnamon bun, or drinking a cold Coca-Cola from the can, and you would never think of me again. We would be happy, like lovers who met on holiday and forgot each other's names."
~Chris Cleave, Little Bee

"First the colors.
      Then the humans.
      That's usually how I try to see things.
      Or at least, how I try.
                         ****Here is a small fact*****
                         You are going to die."
~Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

I will also tell you, in looking through my favorites, two that had disappointing first lines yet were incredible books. I was surprised to find that the first lines of The Things They Carried and Reading Lolita in Tehran were not at all examples of the beautiful writing that can be found in the rest of the book. The first line of Heart of Darkness (a book I LOVE, but not necessarily for the succinctness of the writing) was also a bummer.

What books are your favorites? Does the first line deliver? Use the comments session to INTERACT WITH ME. :)