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The Best Opening Lines in Literature

Collected by Buzzfeed (and supplemented by additional online lists), these are books with some of the greatest, most enticing, surprising, poetic, starkly insidious, darkly comic, or deliciously clever opening lines of all time.
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Sherman Alexie)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
1
Sherman Alexie
The Adventures of Augie March (Saul Bellow)
The Adventures of Augie March
2
Saul Bellow
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
3
Mark Twain
Alphabetical Africa
Alphabetical Africa
4
An Untamed State (Roxane Gay)
An Untamed State
5
Roxane Gay
Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
Anna Karenina
6
Leo Tolstoy
At Swim-Two-Birds (Flann O'Brien)
At Swim-Two-Birds
7
Flann O'Brien
Atonement (Ian McEwan)
Atonement
8
Ian McEwan
Babbitt (Sinclair Lewis)
Babbitt
9
Sinclair Lewis
Back When We Were Grownups
Back When We Were Grownups
10
The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath)
The Bell Jar
11
Sylvia Plath
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
12
Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy)
Blood Meridian
13
Cormac McCarthy
Blown Away
Blown Away
14
The Bluest Eye (Toni Morrison)
The Bluest Eye
15
Toni Morrison
The Book of Numbers (Joshua Cohen)
The Book of Numbers
16
Joshua Cohen
The Book of Strange New Things (Michel Faber)
The Book of Strange New Things
17
Michel Faber
Boy, Snow, Bird (Helen Oyeyemi)
Boy, Snow, Bird
18
Helen Oyeyemi
Breakfast of Champions (Kurt Vonnegut)
Breakfast of Champions
19
Kurt Vonnegut
The Brief History of the Dead
The Brief History of the Dead
20
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Junot Díaz)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
21
Junot Díaz
The Broom of the System
The Broom of the System
22
Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
Catch-22
23
Joseph Heller
The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
The Catcher in the Rye
24
J.D. Salinger
Cat's Eye (Margaret Atwood)
Cat's Eye
25
Margaret Atwood
Changing Places
Changing Places
26
Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
Charlotte's Web
27
E.B. White
A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)
A Christmas Carol
28
Charles Dickens
Chromos
Chromos
29
City of Glass (Cassandra Clare)
City of Glass
30
Cassandra Clare
The Color Purple (Alice Walker)
The Color Purple
31
Alice Walker
A Confederacy of Dunces (John Kennedy Toole)
A Confederacy of Dunces
32
John Kennedy Toole
Crash (J.G. Ballard)
Crash
33
J.G. Ballard
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter
34
The Crow Road
The Crow Road
35
The Crying of Lot 49 (Thomas Pynchon)
The Crying of Lot 49
36
Thomas Pynchon
David Copperfield (Charles Dickens)
David Copperfield
37
Charles Dickens
The Debut
The Debut
38
The Dew Breaker, by Edwige Danticat
The Dew Breaker, by Edwige Danticat
39
Dhalgren (Samuel R. Delany)
Dhalgren
40
Samuel R. Delany
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