A Novel Opening

Several years ago, my sister, Stacy, started a Twitter account to honor her love of books. The concept was simple: Share the first lines from novels in 140 characters or less. That was the beginning of A Novel Opening.

I latched onto the idea, because I found that just by reading the opening lines from these known (and unknown) books, it got me itching to pick them up and devour their contents. I adore reading, but I don't do it as much as I'd like. A full stack marked "to read" sits at my bedside, and the list keeps growing, but fewer and fewer are getting checked off.

While its been 2 years since my sis began work on the Twitter account, the busyness of life took her away from it. But now she's back (with a little help from me)! Posting a new opening every day, and it's truly getting my literary juices flowing.

This post is to serve as an advertisement for A Novel Opening; an attempt to reach out to all you book lovers out there. Follow, read, and enjoy!

A few of my favorite openings posted so far:

✪ Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. — THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD

✪ Most days I wish I was a British pound coin instead of an African girl. — LITTLE BEE

✪ There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. — HOLES

✪ The moment one learns English, complications set in. — CHROMOS

✪ There was a boy named Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. — THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER

Do you have any favorite books with opening lines you've never forgotten? Feel free to share with us; our collection of hundreds of first lines is growing every day!

{image via Jeremy Nelson}