Through fire and death (Korovia Book 1)

Sorry if my overwrought bombast on the last option made it feel like a non-choice. I liked your last option, and it's a viable choice, don't get me wrong. I just wanted to vote for something rather than against something, y'know? I'll let her vote as me to make the universe whole again. But you can't help bu Forget Kafka, that line gets my curiosity going. Mark, how about an ending line poll? The Holy Bible is a bit anticlimactic. I don't have any OCD in me right now--thank you, pharmaceutical cocktail--to make the poll myself. It's funny how even now you've managed to vote without really having voted.

You mad genius, you. That Princess Leia line is great! I'm tempted to throw it on the poll as well, but I found out when I added Ursula's line that it kind of messes up folks who have already voted when one adds a new option. So much for an infinitely progressive poll. Science has failed me again! I know I'm safe to say that, because Mark W. I'm going to mock Rush here, in just a second. Lindsay's "non-respectable" reading made me wonder for a moment or two, as well, but I'm much too much of a gentleman to mention it. And I really like the idea of a closing line poll as well, but as I was looking into it, it seemed to me that closers and their respective awesomeness appear to be far more dependent upon context than openers.

As a matter of fact, opening lines are so catchy because of their complete and utter lack of context. That is to say, first lines are wonderful and fun and intriguing because they open up a whole world of possiblities soon to be laid out, while closers are powerful and moving and poignant because one is now privy to all that came before. Does that make any sense? I don't wanna get beaten up.

Still, a very fun idea. Regardless, you are magnificent, and I love you.

I probably could have gone with the Plath opening line, seeing that it's a sentence I both long to write and openly envy. I went with Proust. It's such an unassuming line that sets a tone and pace for a story that never seems to stale no matter how long he proses on. Thanks a bunch, Triple R. I was just so gosh-darn certain you were going to vote for The Bell Jar.

I guess I don't know you after all. I'll just give Snerkle a fiver. He doesn't really get human currency. I know, I know. What kind of a jerk-face rips off his own boa constrictor? I am full of shame. Didja catch the incredible alliteration in the Alphabetical Africa line? Jan 11, The first line of Ella Enchanted: It wasn't epic like most choices, but it was cute and engaging.

Awesome poll, and really hard choices. P Besides, if the line grabbed you, that's all you need. I've actually been meaning to read Ella Enchanted for a while, just 'cause it seemed kinda fun. Thanks for your addition! I was hoping you'd pop up and throw in your two cents, Antoine. I'm so glad to see you did. It was hard to limit myself to these answers. More and more awesome lines would pop into my head as I went along. Jan 12, Mark I agree that the last line's power comes from the context of all the lines before it. One of the links I shared was the best first and last line combo.

• Far From You!
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• I NOVE UOMINI D’ORO. La grande epopea del Nettuno Baseball Club (Racconti romani di sport di roma e del lazio Vol. 11) (Italian Edition).
• This Poll is About;
• Fun In The Sun.

I think that would be a good one. Some authors grab you then don't know how to end things. Like a song that repeats and fades. A "This poll contains spoilers" would be a good feature. Btw, has such a good last line because it's only 4 words long and says so much. I mean, what can I say in 4 words? Jan 13, P And I'm not really a scaley, so it's not terribly accurate say "Mark likes dinosaur girls". I mean, I'm sure that a lot of girl dinosaurs were every bit as neat as boy dinosaurs, even better in some regards, but I don't like them in the same way that I like human girls.

And you're entirely right about the books that taper off without a good, final punch. That's pretty much one of my biggest criticisms of my own work. I can create a mess just fine, thank you very much. But my ability to create a satisfying resolution? An "Ending Line" poll or "Ending Line s " poll, as the case may be , still feels a little too much like a spoiler parade to me, even with a Spoiler Tag warning. My fidgety mind set would demand that I be as thorough as possible, but I'd still want a whole bunch of people to participate.

Being thorough would mean I would have to list every single book that has the ending lines presented so a person would be warned before they even opened the poll. You'd have to read through this gi-normous caveat and I still might wind up blowing the ending of a book for someone, and bam, I yam left with guilt again. Gomen nasai , Amber! So, while I think it'd be excellent fun to go through and put together, I think it'd have to be in some other venue, where impressionable young readers wouldn't just happen upon it and find out, say, that Moby Dick was actually Herman Melville's mother-in-law the whole time.

My guilt module couldn't take that. I respect your desire to keep something in this world a secret. As much as I love movie trailers, some of my favorite films were seen cold. I wasn't looking for specific scenes to happen. I just let it unfold. Sorry about miscounting the words. That's why I'm in Math In a way, you only need 2 words "Mark likes" everyone knows the rest. You come correct , home-slice! I wouldn't worry about the actual word count.

You're getting up to those math levels where all the numbers are imaginary. And that could be a poll in and of itself: All of the above.

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Jan 14, You come correct, home-slice! I have an imaginary number of imaginary friends. Which, I guess, is only marginally more difficult than trying not to swallow someone else's tongue. Or ton, if you're your aunt. This is one of my favorite opening lines, but there are many in this poll I'm a fan of. Brother Card is never going to speak to me again. Thanks for bringing that back to my recollection, Paige. Urgh, It's been about a million years since I've read anything Ender related. And now I've got the jones again.

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in! Thanks also for voting, and especially for bringing another opener to the table! Jan 15, Kat , I am not going to lie to you.

That is far creepier than I remembered Charlotte's Web ever being. Two million points for you. Thanks so much for playing! Jan 16, That's a good one. Speaking of Rebecca, I have always been partial to "There was no possibility of going for a walk that day. That opening line always makes me think it'd be the start of an awesome Kate Bush song. Thanks for sharing, Sara! Jane Eyre is also a good choice, Antoine. See how hard it was to limit myself for this poll?

Jan 17, Darn near impossible, I would say. But you did a fine job here, Mark. It is a lot like Dictionary, only instead of creating and bluffing the definition of a word you don't know, you are given the title, author, and concise plot summary of a novel, and you need to come up with a plausible first or last line depending on the flip of a coin. One of them, of course, is the real first or last line.

If you don't have a deck of the cards, you can just pick out a stack of fiction and play it that way. Jan 18, This poll is awesome. Makes me wish I could remember first lines Jan 19, Good list fella, but here be the best opening line, ever Do love as well though. Jan 20, This poll would have been better if the names of the authors weren't revealed. I didn't even read all of them.

It is a lot like Dictionary, only instead of creating and bluffing the defi Ex Libris sounds like a game I used to play quite frequently, called Balderdash. The idea was basically the same, except you were providing plots for television shows and movies, or definitions for weird words. I'm going to have to look for it at Hastur's on the way home. Dusty bottles of Vermouth, Byrrh and black rum toppled off the shelves and shattered on the floor.

There was a ripple of applause from the western journalists, who were also drunk. Any madness was a welcome diversion. At that moment Baptiste saw Noelle, stood on the bench seat of the Packard, and gave her a low bow. He was one of his business associates from Bangkok, wealthy, sophisticated, insufferable.

He was also almost as old as her father. The barman brought the Corsican his cognac. He raised the glass towards her in salute and climbed out of the Packard. He made his way, a little unsteadily, across the bar towards them. All I want is the exquisite pleasure of having such a lovely young woman in my arms. This is a wonderful piece not just for readers but for writers or visa versa. We all hear how wonderful books are, but few remember they are not really reading print on a page or screen, they are reading another mind, another person, another set of dreams, another soul.

Reading is human company. The whole debate about print v digital is really only about reading preference — literature, as you say, is about reading another soul.

Sometimes the first line of a book just grabs you by the nostrils a Poll

And the really good writers somehow translate theirs into story. A wonderful compilation of first lines. A few I remember; most I do not. Thank you for your kind words. A lot of inspiring stuff there. One of my favorite characters. He was a tough man to redeem. I guess they do Julia. But he comes good in the end.

He has to try and better himself and I guess from there the only way was up. Took a world war to shift him though. That is the only book that he never finished to my knowledge; I loved it. Thank you for the openers. I remember reading Catch in three days when I was 17 in between studying for finals and playing football seven times a week. Yossarian remains one of the sanest lunatics in Literature, and that line — when you understand what he actually means — was a great way of introducing us to his warped mind. There are some great opening lines here; not all led to books I enjoyed but I admire the craft with which each author introduced their story.

Some lines can stick to you like a Disney song, pick one. Once was all that was needed they assured me. Now, I am doomed… Thanks, Colin. When I read it for the first time, I remember rolling my eyes. Never heard of it, Vickie. Evocative, extensively researched and emotionally complex, TRIAD is an edge of the seat thriller about greed, love, crime and redemption. She survives the Titanic, witnesses first-hand the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, serves as a nurse in the Irish Civil War.

Finally reunited with her childhood sweetheart, she still cannot escape her troubled past. Before she can save anyone else, she must first find a way to save herself.

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• THE BEST 43 OPENING LINES IN NOVEL WRITING HISTORY -.
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• Nightmare Stairs;

He's my kind of writer. Sarah and Rishou are divided by the barbed wire of the kibbutz and by their religion yet still fall in love. But when the British leave Palestine for good and the Jews and Arabs prepare for war, they must finally choose between their love for each other and their loyalty and duty to their own people. But what is the right choice? These are the stories that stay with you. For me, this was one of those reads A searing World War Two novel of byzantine intrigue, where two lovers play out the final moves in a deadly game, masterminded in Berlin, Moscow and London.

From the mountainous jungles and blazing poppy fields of Indochina jungles of the Golden Triangle to the tenements of colonial Hong Kong, from wartime Saigon to the Chinatown of San Francisco, romance and horror collide in a stunning novel of passion and greed and breath-taking action, spanning four turbulent decades. One man stole his wife, his family, his children and his fortune. His search for his daughters and for revenge will take him to the heart of a criminal conspiracy … inside the Vatican itself.

Abandoned by his French mother and Indian father to the streets of wartime Saigon, Michel survives to wreak the most extreme vengeance, leaving a trail of blood that stretches from Bombay to Paris. But when the judge's gavel cracks across a Delhi courtroom his destiny will hang on one woman and one last unthinkable twist of fate From the fall of Saigon to the jungles of El Salvador, from the lawns of the White House to the battle for Sarajevo, three journalists become addicted to the wars they campaign against.

Raw, wry and compassionate, WARBABY is an epic novel of love, friendship and forgiveness spanning three decades of breathless action and turbulent news.

THE BEST 43 OPENING LINES IN NOVEL WRITING HISTORY

But you can never escape the past. A rollercoaster ride through the sixties world of the Kennedys and the Mob, a novel about passion, ambition and survival. Magdalena Fuentes has come a long way from the spoiled little rich girl of her Havana days. Now, in the final days of the war-torn Saigon, she is forced to make one final, impossible choice. A Templar knight and a Dominican priest set off on an epic journey to the legendary Xanadu of Khublai Khan.

By order of the King. This is the true story of Joan of Kent, the English princess who dared defy her family, and even her king, for ten long years to win the man she loved. A fine lady, traveling alone on an eight-month voyage to the other side of the world, on a tiny and overcrowded ship navigated by 'dead reckoning' - guesswork. What could possibly go wrong? Diego believes all he has to offer is his art; all Mercedes thinks she has is her beauty.

Yet together they are so much more From the Inquisition dungeons to the besieged paradise of the Alhambra, they find true beauty among the ashes of last hopes. A story of passion, art and genius. Working in the ancient jungles along the Guatemalan border, Dr. Adam Prescott comes to to question everything he once believed. Are witches just superstitious nonsense - or does evil really exist?

Here are 43 of the best in Literature: