Best Opening Lines

One of my favorite moments when I read is the moment I first pick up a book, open it and read the opening lines. Those opening lines can often make or break the "mood" set by the story. If it's a good or great opening line, I press on with my reading, excited. If it isn't... well I find myself trudging along in my reading until either the story grabs me or I give up and move on to another book.

What are some of your favorite opening lines? What are the best opening lines? There are countless lists posted around the Internet, but here are some of my favorites:

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive, and for a while I could not enter for the way was barred to me. Then, like all dreamers, I was possessed of a sudden with supernatural powers and passed like a spirit through the barrier before me. The drive wound away in front of me, twisting and turning as it had always done..." - Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” - Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

"Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were." - Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair..." - A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

“Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the riverbank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, ‘and what is the use of a book’, thought Alice, ‘without pictures or conversation?’” - Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

"Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail..." - A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

A warm sweet June night... Gladys Taber Quote

"But it's June. At night the windows are open, fireflies flicker in the meadow, the stars are like apple blossoms, and the moon rides like a silver galleon in a deep wave of night. I stretch out in a deck chair under the shadowy trees, and tiredness goes out of my heart. It's a good world to be alive in, when it's a warm sweet June night."

 - Harvest at Stillmeadow (June, pg 92)

"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,' said Piglet at last, 'what's the first thing you say to yourself?'

'What's for breakfast?' said Pooh. 'What do you say, Piglet?'

'I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?' said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully. 'It's the same thing,' he said."

~ Winnie-The-Pooh by A. A. Milne

Quoting: Walt Disney

"There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island."

~ Walt Disney

Tuesday Teaser: They Came to Baghdad by Agatha Christie

"What are you reading?'
Victoria made a slight grimace. 'You don't have much choice of light fiction here. Tale of Two Cities, Pride and Prejudice, and The Mill on the Floss. I'm reading the Tale of Two Cities.'
'Never read it before?'
'Never. I always thought Dickens would be stuffy.'
'What an idea!'
'I'm finding it most exciting!"

Books within Books ~ They Came to Baghdad by Agatha Christie (pg 224)

Quotes: John Adams

"The more one reads the more one sees we have to read."

~ John Adams to Abigail Adams in a letter dated December 28, 1794.

Tuesday Teaser: Tales from an African Vet

"The longer I live and work as a vet, the more I have come to realize that all creatures have a right to life, and that I should do everything in my power to save them."

~ Dr. Roy Aronson, Tales From An African Vet, Chpt 14, pg 155

Romantic Passages from Favorite Reads Part VI

Happy Valentine's Day!

The following is my sixth and final installment in the post series of Romantic Passages from Favorite Reads. There are countless of books and passages I could have quoted, the six I chose were just particular favorites of mine. Enjoy!

---------------
Really and truly there are so many quotable passages within Pride and Prejudice that I almost had a difficult time choosing just one, but in the end I selected the following snippet from the fifty-eighth chapter because it is one of my all-time favorites. It is point in the story where two of literature's greatest lovers finally has a meeting of the hearts and minds. I just love it!

If you are interested in the entire scene then I say tarry no longer, go forth and get yourself a copy of this literary gem!

The Book: Pride & Prejudice, Chpt 58
The Setting: 1812, Meryton in Hertfordshire, England
The Scene: Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy take a walk

"If you will thank me,' he replied, 'let it be for yourself alone. That the wish of giving happiness to you might add force to the other inducements which led me on, I shall not attempt to deny. But your family owe me nothing. Much as I respect them, I believe I thought only of you.'

Elizabeth was too much embarrassed to say a word. After a short pause, her companion added, 'You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged; but one word from you will silence me on this subject forever.'

Elizabeth, feeling all the more than common awkwardness and anxiety of his situation, now forced herself to speak; and immediately though not very fluently, gave him to understand that her sentiments had undergone so material a change since the period to which he alluded, as to make her receive with gratitude and pleasure his present assurances. the happiness which this reply produced was such as he had probably never felt before, and he expressed himself on the occasion as sensibly and as warmly as a man violently in love can be supposed to do. Had Elizabeth been able to encounter his eyes, she might have seen how well the expression of heartfelt delight diffused over his face became him; but, though she could not look, she could listen, and he told her of feelings which, in proving of what importance she was to him, made his affection every moment more valuable."

Romantic Passages from Favorite Reads Part V

I had a little difficulty deciding upon my next selection. I wanted a passage from one of Myrtle Reed's novels, but which one? In the end I settled with Old Rose and Silver a charming story set at the turn of the last century. It is a story of unrequited love on the part of the heroine, who, rather than pursue her love selfishly, takes herself away so that the man she loves can be with someone else. The sweetness comes when she discovers not only that the object of her affection has pursued her, but that her love is at last returned. (The hero is a bit dense, but all is right in the end.)

The Book: Old Rose And Silver by Myrtle Reed, Chpt. 24
The Setting: Somewhere in the eastern United States, 1910
The Scene: Allison admits his true feelings for Rose

"Oh, I know,' he flashed back, bitterly. 'I've lost any shadow of right I might ever have had, because I was a blind fool, and I never had any chance anyway. All I can do is to go on loving you, needing you, wanting you; seeing your face before me every hour of the day and night, thirsting for you with every fiber of me. All I have to keep is an empty husk of memory--those few weeks you were kind to me. At least I had you with me though your heart belonged to someone else.'

'Someone else?' she repeated, curiously. The colour was coming back slowly now.

'Yes. Have you forgotten you told me? That day, don't you remember, you said you had loved another man who did not care for you?'

Rose nodded. Her face was like a crimson flower swaying on a slender stem. 'I said,' she began, 'that I had loved a man who did not care for me, and that I always would. Wasn't that it?'

'Something like that. I wish to G-- I could change places with him.'

'Did I,' hesitated Rose, 'are you sure--that I said--another man, or was it just--a man?'

....

'Rose! Rose! Look at me! Tell me, for G--- sake, who he was--or is. I can't bear it!'

She turned toward him. 'Look,' she said, softly. 'Look in my face and see.' For a tense instant he hesitated. Then, with a little cry of joy, he clasped her close forever, having seen his own face mirrored in her happy eyes."

--------------------------------
*At the beginning of the 20th century it was not uncommon for males to have the name "Allison"

Old Rose & Silver (reviewed)

Romantic Passages from Favorite Reads Part IV

The Book: North And South by Elizabeth Gaskell, Chpt. 27
The Setting: 1850s, London, England
The Scene: John Thornton and Margaret Hale reach an understanding.. at last!

"While she sought for this paper, her very heart-pulse was arrested by the tone in which Mr. Thornton spoke. His voice was hoarse, and trembling with tender passion, as he said:---

'Margaret!'

For an instant she looked up; and then sought to veil her luminous eyes by dropping her forehead on her hands. Again, stepping nearer, he besought her with another tremulous eager call upon her name,

'Margaret!'

Still lower went the head; more closely hidden was the face, almost resting on the table before her. He came close to her. He knelt by her side, to bring his face to a level with her ear; and whispered--panted out the words:--

'Take care.--If you do not speak--I shall claim you as my own in some strange presumptuous way.--Send me away at once, if I must go;--Margaret!--'

At that third call she turned her face, still covered with her small white hands, towards him, and laid it on his shoulder, hiding it even there; and it was too delicious to feel her soft cheek against his, for him to wish to see either deep blushes or loving eyes. He clasped her close. But they both kept silence. At length she murmured in a broken voice:

'Oh, Mr. Thornton, I am not good enough!'

'Not good enough! Don't mock my own deep feeling of unworthiness.'

After a minute or two, he gently disengaged her hands from her face, and laid her arms as they had once before been placed to protect him from the rioters..."

---------------------------------------
North & South (reviewed)
North & South (Free AudioBook)

Romantic Passages from Favorite Reads Part III

I had a difficult time selecting just a single passage for my next pick. In the end I settled for two quotes from two books within the Anne series. I believe these establish not only the romance between Gilbert and Anne as a young couple, but how alive their love was after several children and 15 years of marriage. I hope you enjoy!

The Book: Anne's House of Dreams by L. M. Montgomery, Chpt. 4
The Setting: 1890, Green Gables, Prince Edward Island, Canada
The Scene: Gilbert's and Anne's Wedding

"But it was a happy and beautiful bride who came down the old, homespun-carpeted stairs that September noon--the first bride of Green Gables, slender and shining-eyed, in the mist of her maiden veil, with her arms full of roses. Gilbert, waiting for her in the hall below, looked up at her with adoring eyes. She was his at last, this evasive, long-sought Anne, won after years of patient waiting. It was to him she was coming in the sweet surrender of the bride. Was he worth of her? Could he make her as happy as he hoped? If he failed her--if he could not measure up to her standard of manhood-then, as she held out her hand, their eyes met and all doubt was swept away in a glad certainty. They belonged to each other; and, no matter what life might hold for them, it could never alter that. their happiness was in each other's keeping and both were unafraid."

The Book: Anne of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery, Chpt. 41
The Setting: 1905, Ingleside, Prince Edward Island, Canada
The Scene: Gilbert and Anne's 15th wedding anniversary

"Anne felt like a released bird... she was flying again. Gilbert's arms were around her.. his eyes were looking into hers in the moonlight. 'You do love me, Gilbert? I'm not just a habit with you? You haven't said you loved me for so long.'

'My dear, dear love! I didn't think you needed words to know that. I couldn't live without you. Always you give me strength. There's a verse somewhere in the Bible that is meant for you... "She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life."'

Life which had seemed so grey and foolish a few moments before was golden and rose and splendidly rainbowed again. The diamond pendant slipped to the floor, unheeded for the moment. It was beautiful... but there were so many things lovelier... confidence and peace and delightful work... laughter and kindness... that old safe feeling of a sure love."

--------------------------------------------
Another romantic passage is Gilbert's proposal to Anne: Anne of the Island, Chapter 41.

Anne of the Island (reviewed)
Anne's House of Dreams (reviewed)
Anne of Ingleside (reviewed)

Anne of Green Gables Timeline

Romantic Passages from Favorite Reads Part II

My next choice is from Jane Austen's Persuasion, which is arguably my favorite of her novels, well, maybe second only to Pride and Prejudice.

The book: Persuasionon by Jane Austen, Chapter 23
The setting: Early 19th century England
The scene: A letter from Captain Wentworth to Anne Elliot

"On the contents of that letter depended all which this world could do for her! Any thing was possible, any thing might be defied rather than suspense. Mrs. Musgrove had little arrangements of her own at her own table; to their protection she must trust, and sinking into the chair which he had occupied, succeeding to the very spot where he had leaned and written, her eyes devoured the following words:

'I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own, than when you almost broke it eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that this love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone I think and plan. -- Have you not seen this? can you fail to have understood my wishes? -- I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice, when they would be lost on others. -- Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating in

F. W.

I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening, or never.'"

----------------------
If you've never read Persuasion, then let me persuade you to not waste another moment, but instead pick up this delightful story. It is a classic tale of true love; love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love that never ends.

Romantic Passages from Favorite Reads Part I

It seems everywhere I turn people are talking about Valentine's Day. Stores are decked out with red, white and pink candy, cookies, cupcakes and flowers. TV shows and music are tuned to tales of love and romance.

In light of this I thought it might be fun to reflect upon a few romantic scenes from some of my favorite reads. I confess this was not a completely original idea. I was inspired with this idea by the emails floating around the Maud Hart Lovelace List-Serv, so it seems only fair that my first quoted passage would come from one of my favorite Lovelace books, Betsy's Wedding. Not read any of Maud's books? Be sure to come back later this year when A Library is a Hospital for the Mind hosts the third annual Maud Hart Lovelace Reading Challenge.

The Book: Betsy's Wedding, Chapter 2
The setting: 1914, New York City.
The scene: Joe and Betsy are reunited and dining together.

"Betsy,' he said at last, 'I love you. I love you from the cloudy dark hair down to your slender feet. I love your eyes, and your soft hands, and your sweet voice, and the way your laugh chimes out. Everything about you is enchanting to me. But Betsy, it's lots more than that.'

He seemed to be thinking out loud.

'I can always talk to you, ' he said. 'I can make plans or puzzle out ideas, or build castles in the air. I don't need to think what I'm saying or guard my words. You understand my high moods and my low ones. You understand me, I guess.

'I want to be married to you and have you around all the time. I want to come home to you after work and tell you about my day. I want to hear you humming around, doing housework. I want to support you. I want to do things for you. If we were married and I was coming home to you tonight, I wouldn't care if we had just bread and milk.

'You know, Betsy, we never quarrel when we're together. We never will, I really believe, when we are married. But if we aren't, something might come between us again. Betsy, you fit into my life as perfectly as a rose fits its stem. You and I match like the pieces of a broken coin.' After a long pause, he said, 'Love me always, Betsy! I have given my whole heart to you.'"

--------------------
I think part of why I love the characters Joe and Besty is that I know they were the fictional counterpart to the author and her husband. Joe and Betsy were best friends, soul-mates, and lovers. And if the reader knows anything about the author, Maud and her husband, Delos it's obvious that their relationship was very much the same. Maud once said: "Delos and I are mutually agreed that marrying each other was giving the perfect answer to life." (11/28/1931)

I think there's nothing quite as romantic as learning that a real-life couple had a truly loving and happy marriage during their life-time.

Now, what about you? What are some of your favorite romantic passages from books you've read? Leave me a comment and let me know.

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

510 pages
Published in 1868

"Do you feel an uncomfortable heat at the pit of your stomach, sir? and a nasty thumping at the top of your head? AH! not yet? It will lay hold of you at Cobb's Hole, Mr. Franklin. I call it the detective-fever; and I first caught it in the company of Sergeant Cuff." (Part 2, Chpt 3, pg 325)

I love a good mystery and The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins is probably one of the most famous of what might be classified as the classic-mystery. Published in mid-19th century, The Moonstone is one of the earliest novels that depicts a police detective working to solve a crime. (Yes, it predates even the world-renowned Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.) In fact, this novel has led many readers to call Wilkie Collins the father of the modern detective story. Although there is some dispute amongst Edgar Allen Poe fans.

The Plot:
"Rachel Verinder, a young Englishwoman, inherits a large Indian diamond on her eighteenth birthday. It is a legacy from her uncle, a corrupt English army officer who served in India. The diamond is of great religious significance as well as being extremely valuable, and three Hindu priests have dedicated their lives to recovering it.... Rachel's eighteenth birthday is celebrated with a large party, whose guests include her cousin Franklin Blake. She wears the Moonstone on her dress that evening for all to see, including some Indian jugglers who have called at the house. Later that night, the diamond is stolen from Rachel's bedroom, and a period of turmoil, unhappiness, misunderstandings and ill-luck ensues. Told by a series of narratives from some of the main characters, the complex plot traces the subsequent efforts to explain the theft, identify the thief, trace the stone and recover it." (Summary courtesy of Wikipedia.)

My Thoughts:
I was thrilled to finally get the chance to read The Moonstone. Years ago my book club read The Woman In White, an earlier novel by Collins, and I really enjoyed it, so when it was suggested as our next book during one of our meetings last fall I had nothing but the highest expectations. I am happy to report I was not disappointed. The Moonstone is a clever and witty tale of human interest, sensational thrill, romance, and social criticism. It keeps the reader (myself included) turning page after page to the very end.

And it was no different 143 years ago when the story first appeared in English newspapers. Although it is now available in complete form, when Collins wrote the story it was published in serial form from January to August of 1868. It is said that readers lined the streets awaiting the final installments and that bets were even made as to the outcome of the story plot. (Remind you of how people are today awaiting the latest installment in a popular fiction series or television show? I suppose some things never change.)

Some critics have called The Moonstone a "sensationalist" and "moralistic" novel because of the extreme elements contained within and the somewhat obvious plot. But I do not consider this a reason to avoid reading it. Yes, I did suspect certain turn of events and perhaps some of the story was obvious, but overall it was the journey, the how and why that was exciting for me to read. Yes, the bad end badly and the good end well, but there is more to the story than that. Collins used this riveting tale to shed light and draw attention to some serious issues of his time. Even now, nearly a century and a half later readers will read and give pause to think about issues they might not otherwise have stopped to consider outside a history textbook.

The Moonstone goes down as one of my all-time favorite classics. And in my opinion, if you have the opportunity to read just one classic this year you might do a lot worse than to read The Moonstone.

----------------
Related Links:

Tuesday Teaser: The Moonstone
A House to Let by Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, Wilkie Collins (reviewed)

Project Gutenberg: The Moonstone (E-Book)
Librivox: The Moonstone (Audio Book)
Wilkie Collins - Information Page
Wilike Collins: The Moonstone - Information Page

Tuesday Teaser: Mrs. Tim Flies Home

"'Books are meant to be read. They like being read,' says my visitor seriously. 'I always feel sorry for books that are too valuable to be read -- books with uncut pages. I'm sure they would rather be just ordinary so that ordinary people could read them.'"

- Mrs. Tim Flies Home by D. E. Stevenson, Saturday, July 21. Pg 136-137

Tuesday Teaser: At the Sign of the Jack O'Lantern

"When the book-lover enters his library, no matter what storm and tumult may be in his heart, he has come to the inmost chamber of Peace. The indescribable, musty odour which breathes from the printed page is fragrant incense to him who loves his books. In unseemly caskets his treasures may be hidden, yet, when the cover is reverently lifted the jewels shine with no fading light. The old, immortal beauty is still there, for any one who seeks it in the right way."

(At the Sign of the Jack O' Lantern by Myrtle Reed, Chpt 18, pg 300)

Tuesday Teaser: The Moonstone

"If the sea, then oozing in smoothly over the Shivering Sand, had been changed into dry land before my own eyes, I doubt if I could have been more surprised than I was when Mr. Franklin spoke those words." (The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, Part 1, Chpt 5, page 44)

Good Citizenship

It's election day in the United States -- have you voted yet?

Today as I thought about the election I rememberd an excellent little book I picked up some ten years ago. It contains two speeches by former President Grover Cleveland and was published in 1908. The first speech is titled Good Citizenship and is as applicable today as it was 100+ years ago when written.

As typical you can't get the entire text via Google Books (such a shame as the book is only 78 pages long), but you can read a good deal of it, so check it out! Here's the opening quote:

"There is danger that my subject of American good citizenship is so familiar and so trite as to lack interest. This does not necessarily result from a want of appreciation of the importance of good citizenship, nor from a denial of the duty resting upon every American to be a good citizen. There is, however, abroad in our land a self-satisfied and perfunctory notion that we do all that is required of us in this direction when we make profession of our faith in the creed of good citizenship and abstain from the commission of palpably unpatriotic sins...."Read more here.

Still need to vote? Find your polling place.

Tuesday Teaser: The Moonstone

"I wonder whether the gentlemen who makes a business and a living out of writing books, ever find their own selves getting in the way of their subjects, like me?"

~ Gabriel Betteredge in The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, Chapter 2, page 27

Quoting Maud Hart Lovelace

"The first four Betsy-Tacys are read aloud a good deal, and perhaps they help draw parents and children together. Perhaps they help parents to remember the fresh exciting world in which children live. I do think I remember that better than most grown-ups." ~ Maud Hart Lovelace