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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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avg. score: 30 of 175 (17%)
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Page 1 of 5
1
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Sherman Alexie)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Sherman Alexie)
2
The Adventures of Augie March
The Adventures of Augie March
3
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
4
Alphabetical Africa
Alphabetical Africa
5
An Untamed State
An Untamed State
6
Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
7
At Swim-Two-Birds
At Swim-Two-Birds
8
Atonement (Ian McEwan)
Atonement (Ian McEwan)
9
Babbitt
Babbitt
10
Back When We Were Grownups
Back When We Were Grownups
11
The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath)
The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath)
12
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
13
Blood Meridian
Blood Meridian
14
Blown Away
Blown Away
15
The Bluest Eye
The Bluest Eye
16
The Book of Numbers (Joshua Cohen)
The Book of Numbers (Joshua Cohen)
17
The Book of Strange New Things (Michel Faber)
The Book of Strange New Things (Michel Faber)
18
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
19
Breakfast of Champions
Breakfast of Champions
20
The Brief History of the Dead
The Brief History of the Dead
21
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
22
The Broom of the System
The Broom of the System
23
Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
24
The Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye
25
Cat's Eye (Margaret Atwood)
Cat's Eye (Margaret Atwood)
26
Changing Places
Changing Places
27
Charlotte's Web
Charlotte's Web
28
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol
29
Chromos
Chromos
30
City of Glass
City of Glass
31
The Color Purple (Alice Walker)
The Color Purple (Alice Walker)
32
Confederacy of Dunces
Confederacy of Dunces
33
Crash
Crash
34
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter
35
The Crow Road
The Crow Road
36
The Crying of Lot 49
The Crying of Lot 49
37
David Copperfield (Charles Dickens)
David Copperfield (Charles Dickens)
38
The Debut
The Debut
39
The Dew Breaker, by Edwige Danticat
The Dew Breaker, by Edwige Danticat
40
Dhalgren
Dhalgren
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