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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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Moby Dick (Herman Melville)
Moby Dick
1
Herman Melville
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
Pride and Prejudice
2
Jane Austen
Gravity's Rainbow (Thomas Pynchon)
Gravity's Rainbow
3
Thomas Pynchon
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
One Hundred Years of Solitude
4
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov)
Lolita
5
Vladimir Nabokov
Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
Anna Karenina
6
Leo Tolstoy
Finnegan's Wake
Finnegan's Wake
7
1984 (George Orwell)
1984
8
George Orwell
A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
A Tale of Two Cities
9
Charles Dickens
Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison)
Invisible Man
10
Ralph Ellison
Miss Lonelyhearts (Nathanael West)
Miss Lonelyhearts
11
Nathanael West
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
12
Mark Twain
The Trial (Franz Kafka)
The Trial
13
Franz Kafka
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler (Italo Calvino)
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
14
Italo Calvino
Murphy
Murphy
15
The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
The Catcher in the Rye
16
J.D. Salinger
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (James Joyce)
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
17
James Joyce
The Good Soldier (Ford Madox Ford)
The Good Soldier
18
Ford Madox Ford
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (Laurence Sterne)
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
19
Laurence Sterne
David Copperfield (Charles Dickens)
David Copperfield
20
Charles Dickens
Ulysses (James Joyce)
Ulysses
21
James Joyce
Paul Clifford
Paul Clifford
22
The Crying of Lot 49 (Thomas Pynchon)
The Crying of Lot 49
23
Thomas Pynchon
City of Glass (Cassandra Clare)
City of Glass
24
Cassandra Clare
The Sound and the Fury (William Faulkner)
The Sound and the Fury
25
William Faulkner
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
26
Don Quixote (Miguel De Cervantes)
Don Quixote
27
Miguel De Cervantes
The Stranger (Albert Camus)
The Stranger
28
Albert Camus
Waiting
Waiting
29
Neuromancer (William Gibson)
Neuromancer
30
William Gibson
Notes From the Underground (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
Notes From the Underground
31
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Unnamable
The Unnamable
32
The Making of Americans (Gertrude Stein)
The Making of Americans
33
Gertrude Stein
The End of the Road
The End of the Road
34
Galatea 2.2
Galatea 2.2
35
JR
JR
36
Mrs. Dalloway (Virginia Woolf)
Mrs. Dalloway
37
Virginia Woolf
Slaughterhouse-Five (Kurt Vonnegut)
Slaughterhouse-Five
38
Kurt Vonnegut
Paradise (Toni Morrison)
Paradise
39
Toni Morrison
Swann's Way (Marcel Proust)
Swann's Way
40
Marcel Proust
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