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30 Novels With the Best Opening Lines (+ 2 Favourites)

I checked out these opening lines and do agree that they grab your attention. The two favourites are the last two novels in this list.
793 users · 2,431 views
 
from telegraph.co.uk · made by CQSteve
avg. score: 10 of 32 (31%)
required scores: 1, 5, 8, 10, 14 
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Which ones have you read?

Page 1 of 1
1
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen
2
Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy
3
A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens
4
1984 (George Orwell)
1984
George Orwell
5
The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath)
The Bell Jar
Sylvia Plath
6
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain
7
The Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye
8
Wide Sargasso Sea (Jean Rhys)
Wide Sargasso Sea
Jean Rhys
9
The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
10
The Go-Between
The Go-Between
11
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis
12
Moby Dick (Herman Melville)
Moby Dick
Herman Melville
13
Murphy
Murphy
14
Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
Catch-22
Joseph Heller
15
Middlemarch (George Eliot)
Middlemarch
George Eliot
16
Peter Pan (J. M. Barrie)
Peter Pan
J. M. Barrie
17
The Portrait of a Lady
The Portrait of a Lady
18
Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov)
Lolita
Vladimir Nabokov
19
Love in the Time of Cholera
Love in the Time of Cholera
20
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Ken Kesey)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Ken Kesey
21
Goodbye to Berlin (Christopher Isherwood)
Goodbye to Berlin
Christopher Isherwood
22
Elmer Gantry
Elmer Gantry
23
A Confederacy of Dunces (John Kennedy Toole)
A Confederacy of Dunces
John Kennedy Toole
24
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
25
The Crow Road
The Crow Road
26
Jude the Obscure (Thomas Hardy)
Jude the Obscure
Thomas Hardy
27
Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
Jane Eyre
Charlotte Bronte
28
The Stranger (Albert Camus)
The Stranger
Albert Camus
29
The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway)
The Old Man and the Sea
Ernest Hemingway
30
Slaughterhouse-Five (Kurt Vonnegut)
Slaughterhouse-Five
Kurt Vonnegut
31
The Outsiders
The Outsiders
32
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Something Wicked This Way Comes
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