what's your favorite line?

I’ve been thinking about books a lot.

Reading them…writing them…I like it all the same.  Books transport me to a place I might otherwise never get to go.  When I read the words coming off the page, I find myself falling into them, disappearing into the magical world created by the author. 

And when I am the one creating those words, I transport myself to those magical places just as easily.  I suppose that is one reason I like to write.  I like to live in a world completely unlike my own.

So earlier today I was flipping through the pages of A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, and it occurred to me how powerful the opening lines of that novel are.  “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”  And then I thought about all of the other remarkable novels I have read over the course of my life with equally powerful opening lines. 

I have my favorites, of course.   Some would surprise you…some probably not.  But I wondered…what are your favorite opening lines?  What grabbed you when you first read it?  What stuck with you over the course of your lives? 

Let’s share…shall we?

Until the next time…I’ll be waiting for your favorite lines!