Off To A Good Start
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Every week they post a new topic/top ten list and invite everyone to share their own answers. I'm so obsessed with lists - so it makes perfect sense that I'd love this feature!
Top Ten Favorite Beginnings In Books
1. "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of good fortune must be in want of a wife." - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
2. "Last night, I dreamt that I chopped Andrew up into a hundred little pieces, like a Benihana chef, and ate them, one by one." - The Opposite of Love by Julie Buxbaum
3. "My daddy used to say I had the devil in me." - Looking for Cassandra Jane by Melody Carlson
4. "It was difficult, later, to think of a time when Betsy and Tacy had not been friends." - Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace
5. "My father took one hundred and thirty-two minutes to die." - Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
6. "If it had not rained on a certain May morning Valancy Stirling's whole life would have been entirely different." - The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
7. "Here is everything I know about France: Madeline and Amelie and Moulin Rouge." - Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
8. "I write this sitting in the kitchen sink." - I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
9. "It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die." - The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
10. "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." - Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Great list! Anna Karenina is one of my favourite books and that opening line from Pride and Prejudice also made my list this week :) And yay for I Capture the Castle; been meaning to re-read it...
ReplyDeleteMy TTT
So glad we share some love for the same classics!
DeleteI really liked the beginning of Anna and the French Kiss too, and the beginning of I Capture the Castle really caught my attention, I'll have to check it out! :) My TTT list: http://aliceinreaderland.com/2013/07/29/lines/
ReplyDeleteAlice @ Alice in Readerland
Hope you enjoy I Capture the Castle if you end up reading it!
DeleteI've always loved the first line of Pride and Prejudice. Maybe one of these days I'll actually get around to reading the whole thing, lol. Jellicoe Road was pretty amazing. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHaha! I really hope you do end up reading the whole thing one day. It's my favorite book!
DeleteWonderful picks - and all from books I've never read. But now you've added The Scorpio Races, Jellicoe Road, I Capture the Castle, and Anna Karenina onto my to-read list.
ReplyDeleteYAY! This makes me so happy. I'm a quote lover and a total sucker for a good one. I've added many a books to my TBR based on a quote pulled from it's pages.
DeleteSitting in the kitchen sink? Interesting.
ReplyDeleteRead it, Juju! So good :)
DeleteI love the beginning to I Capture The Castle, and Cassandra Mortmain, although I am so totally team Stephen forever and for always.
ReplyDeleteALSO I JUST LOOKED IT UP AND HE IS PLAYED BY HENRY CAVILL in the movie and sigh. Just lots of sighs. I am incoherent today.
I need to watch the movie! I adored the book (obviously) but still haven't watched the movie. Thanks for reminding me to do that!
DeleteJellicoe Road is popular today! Also, the first line of Pride and Prejudice is kind of a classic line on its own. I need to get to Anna and the French Kiss soon and it starts with a great line!
ReplyDeleteI love the whole opening paragraph from Anna and the French Kiss! It's really good!
DeleteDon't mind me, I am doing a little Pride & Prejudice happy dance over hear. I'm just loving seeing all the love for P&P. That opening line made it onto my TTT as well. I just started reading I Capture the Castle, and I love that first line too. I can't wait to see how the rest of the book turns out.
ReplyDeleteTWO AMAZING BOOKS! Glad you love P&P and hope you love I Capture the Castle!
DeleteI chuckled to see P&P although I just knew it would be the first one on your list. I love the Anna Karenina quote - I highlighted it when I was reading and it set the tone perfectly for that book. Also love The Scorpio Races line.
ReplyDeleteHaha! You know me too well :) And I agree - Anna Karenina's opening line totally sets the tone for the rest of the book. Oh The Scorpio Races <3333
DeleteOMG I loooooove the P and P opening!! Totally forgot about it! Great pick!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Glad you love that line too :)
DeleteI love that you included Looking for Cassandra Jane! Melody Carlson was one of my favorite authors in high school. And I'm really intrigued by the opening of The Scorpio Races, been meaning to get around to that one!
ReplyDeleteOh girl, I ADORED Melody Carlson in high school. Her Diary of A Teenage Girl series? Totally one of my favorites!
DeleteLove your choices! Especially Anna and the French Kiss.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I adore that whole opening paragraph :)
DeleteOh wow. Some of these quotes are amazing and I've never heard of them before. My favorites have to be The Opposite of Love, Looking for Cassandra Jane, and I Capture the Castle. I haven't read any of those three, but those first lines make me want to pick them up! So dark and quirky!
ReplyDeleteYAY! I love that the opening lines make you want to read those. They're all so good!
DeleteYes! Anna and the French Kiss made my list too. She is just so relatable. Right off the bat, she endeared herself to me.
ReplyDeleteExactly! I liked her the moment that book began :)
DeleteI am SO SAD that I missed this TTT. :( I look forward to ANY of them that have to do with quotes, because I will take any excuse to break them out, LOL. So, this one will definitely be coming back on a freebie week for me!
ReplyDeleteI love that you included the opening from I Capture the Castle! It's so charming and unique and always makes my lists of favorite openings. I love the Pride & Prejudice and Anna openings, as well. And ohhh, that Jellicoe Road quote. Talk about captivating you immediately with a sucker punch to the gut. Perfect.
Basically, this list is fantastic! And now I want to go read (or re-read!) several of these books. :D
Oh man! I'm obsessed with any TTT topics related to quotes, too. It just takes me forever to actually decide what quotes I want to share.
DeleteSo glad you love the openings of so many of the same books :) You have good quote taste haha!