[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOwoA2gMIr0?showinfo=0]
Top Five Wednesday is a book tag started by GingerReadsLainey. Join the goodreads group to get each week’s topic and participate yourselves!
Can you judge a book by it’s first sentence? Probably not, but I expect it’s a little more accurate than judging a book by its cover. This week on Top Five Wednesday we talk about some of our favourite opening lines and first sentences.
1. Voyage of the Dawn Treader – C.S. Lewis
“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb and he almost deserved it.”
It’s an unfortunate name, and you know exactly what Lewis means with this jab.
I remember reading this book as a kid and being both amused and relieved. It’s no secret to anyone that the original name my parents picked out for me was to be Clarence. I dodged a bullet on that one.
2. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”
An oldie but a goodie. This line shows up on almost every single “best first sentences of fiction list”.
3. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe – Douglas Adams
“In the beginning the universe was created. This made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.”
This quote appears all over social media. It’s traditional Douglas Adams humour that makes him one of the most loved humour authors ever. If you haven’t checked out his Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy or any of his other works. Drop what you’re doing and go check them out. Trust us.
4. The Martian – Andy Weird
“I’m pretty much fucked.”
The first line of The Martian manages to both introduce the reader to the mindset of the main character Mark Watney and the tone of the book. This opening line is short and to the point and because of that, very memorable.
5. A Crown for Cold Silver – Alex Marshall
“It was all going so nicely, right up until the massacre.”
I bought this book based solely on this first line. Those in charge of marketing this book knew they had struck gold and have used this first sentence in all of their marketing for the novel.
At the time of filming this video, neither Chelsey or I have read A Crown for Cold Silver, but with the recent release of the sequel it’s been pushed to the top of our TBR piles.
