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Call Me Stately Plump Mrs. Dalloway: 100 Best Opening Lines From Novels Per "American Book Review"

Would you have kept reading "Moby Dick" had it begun with "My name is Ishmael," or "Pride and Prejudice" if it kicked off with "Many people think wealthy young men should find a wife?" Probably, since they were assigned to you for a class, but still, a great opening sentence is usually the hallmark of a great novel. For example, Jacqueline Susann's "Valley of the Dolls" begins with "The temperature hit ninety degrees the day she arrived." As opposed to ninety what?
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1
Moby Dick (Herman Melville)
Moby Dick (Herman Melville)
2
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3
Gravity's Rainbow
Gravity's Rainbow
4
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
5
Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov)
Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov)
6
Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
7
Finnegan's Wake
Finnegan's Wake
8
1984 (George Orwell)
1984 (George Orwell)
9
A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
10
Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison)
Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison)
11
Miss Lonelyhearts
Miss Lonelyhearts
12
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
13
The Trial (Franz Kafka)
The Trial (Franz Kafka)
14
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
15
Murphy
Murphy
16
The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
17
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
18
The Good Soldier
The Good Soldier
19
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
20
David Copperfield (Charles Dickens)
David Copperfield (Charles Dickens)
21
Ulysses
Ulysses
22
Paul Clifford
Paul Clifford
23
The Crying of Lot 49
The Crying of Lot 49
24
City of Glass
City of Glass
25
The Sound and the Fury
The Sound and the Fury
26
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
27
Don Quixote (Miguel De Cervantes)
Don Quixote (Miguel De Cervantes)
28
The Stranger (Albert Camus)
The Stranger (Albert Camus)
29
Waiting
Waiting
30
Neuromancer
Neuromancer
31
Notes From the Underground
Notes From the Underground
32
The Unnamable
The Unnamable
33
The Making of Americans (Gertrude Stein)
The Making of Americans (Gertrude Stein)
34
The End of the Road
The End of the Road
35
Galatea 2.2
Galatea 2.2
36
JR
JR
37
Mrs. Dalloway
Mrs. Dalloway
38
Slaughterhouse-Five (Kurt Vonnegut)
Slaughterhouse-Five (Kurt Vonnegut)
39
Paradise
Paradise
40
Swann's Way
Swann's Way
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