IN THE BEGINNING

In The Beginning - Great First Lines From Your Favorite Books - Collected by Hans Bauer - This book has been on my shelf for ages, and finally I decided to read it front to back. It's a fun read, and the first lines are in alphabetical order according to the title of the book, and I love it when I recognize one. First lines are very important; my son has learned to call the first line of a paper the "hook". If you've got a good hook, it's usually easier to catch them, and then to reel them in. Here's a favorite of mine:

"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".

This was written in 1951, and when I read it years after that, when I was 12 years old, it was new and different and like no other book I'd read. Maybe before or since. Certain books evoke certain feelings, and then they have to be read at just the right time in your life in order to grab you. Do you recognize it? The color of the font is a clue.