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The Best Opening Lines in Literature - Page 2

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 Dick Gibson Show
The Dick Gibson Show
41
Dietland (Sarai Walker)
Dietland
42
Sarai Walker
Don Quixote (Miguel De Cervantes)
Don Quixote
43
Miguel De Cervantes
Double or Nothing
Double or Nothing
44
Earthly Powers
Earthly Powers
45
Elmer Gantry
Elmer Gantry
46
Elmer Gantry
Elmer Gantry
47
The End of the Affair (Graham Greene)
The End of the Affair
48
Graham Greene
The End of the Road
The End of the Road
49
The English Patient
The English Patient
50
Ethan Frome (Edith Wharton)
Ethan Frome
51
Edith Wharton
Everything I Never Told You (Celeste Ng)
Everything I Never Told You
52
Celeste Ng
Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
Fahrenheit 451
53
Ray Bradbury
A Farewell to Arms (Ernest Hemingway)
A Farewell to Arms
54
Ernest Hemingway
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Hunter S. Thompson)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
55
Hunter S. Thompson
Finnegan's Wake
Finnegan's Wake
56
A Frolic of His Own
A Frolic of His Own
57
Galatea 2.2
Galatea 2.2
58
Geek Love (Katherine Dunn)
Geek Love
59
Katherine Dunn
Girl at War (Sara Novic)
Girl at War
60
Sara Novic
A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing (Eimear McBride)
A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing
61
Eimear McBride
Go Tell It on the Mountain (James Baldwin)
Go Tell It on the Mountain
62
James Baldwin
The Go-Between (L.P. Hartley)
The Go-Between
63
L.P. Hartley
Goldfinger (Ian Fleming)
Goldfinger
64
Ian Fleming
Good Omens (Terry Pratchett)
Good Omens
65
Terry Pratchett
A Good Scent From a Strange Mountain
A Good Scent From a Strange Mountain
66
The Good Soldier (Ford Madox Ford)
The Good Soldier
67
Ford Madox Ford
Goodbye to Berlin (Christopher Isherwood)
Goodbye to Berlin
68
Christopher Isherwood
Gravity's Rainbow (Thomas Pynchon)
Gravity's Rainbow
69
Thomas Pynchon
The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
The Great Gatsby
70
F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Gunslinger (Stephen King)
The Gunslinger
71
Stephen King
The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)
The Handmaid's Tale
72
Margaret Atwood
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (J.K. Rowling)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
73
J.K. Rowling
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (Carson McCullers)
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
74
Carson McCullers
Herzog (Saul Bellow)
Herzog
75
Saul Bellow
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
76
Douglas Adams
The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
The Hobbit
77
J.R.R. Tolkien
Howl's Moving Castle (Diana Wynne Jones)
Howl's Moving Castle
78
Diana Wynne Jones
I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith)
I Capture the Castle
79
Dodie Smith
I, Claudius (Robert Graves)
I, Claudius
80
Robert Graves
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