A Word Please

In our modern world, we are always going at breakneck speed, running from one thing to another. Technology has ensured that we are never disconnected from friends or from work. We “multitask”, all day, every day. Consequently, we’ve learned to expect instant gratification. This applies to our reading habits, as well.

How long do you give a book before you decide it’s not worth reading? A few chapters? A few pages?

Capturing a reader’s attention early in a book has always been important. Now, however, our shortened attention spans make it even more vital.

Would you give a book only a single line to draw you in? Here are some brilliant first lines that have hooked countless readers:

1. “When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon.” – The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley

2. “If I could tell you one thing about my life it would be this: when I was seven years old the mailman ran over my head.” – The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall

3. “I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.” – I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

4. “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

5. “If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.” – The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

6. “It was the day my grandmother exploded.” – The Crow Road by Iain M. Banks

7. “Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.” – Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler

8. “It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York.” – The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

9. “Granted: I am an inmate of a mental hospital; my keeper is watching me, he never lets me out of his sight; there’s a peephole in the door, and my keeper’s eye is the shade of brown that can never see through a blue-eyed type like me.” – The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass

10. “He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.” – Scaramouche by Raphael Sabatini

Do you have a favorite of your own?

Tags: A Tale of Two Cities, Anne Tyler, Back When We Were Grownups, Best First Lines, Brady Udall, Capture The Castle, Charles Dickens, Dodie smith, Famous First Lines, First Line Hooks, Gunter Grass, J. D. Salinger, James Crumley, Raphael Sabatini, Scaramouche, Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar, The Catcher in the Rye, The Last Good Kiss, The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint, The Tin Drum