Which books have got good beginnings?

sriparnaguha · Sep 4, 2009

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I am sure you all read books. I wanna ask you which book according to you has got a good beginning? I must mention that it can be more than one book. I am sure you all will come up with plenty of answers.
When you are mentioning about the name of the book, also do mention the first few lines.

P.S – you can write about books of any language.

Start posting friends,

Love,

Sriparna

teestabasu · Sep 4, 2009

Hello Sriparna,

Thanks for starting this post. There are many books which beginning I like. However, it is ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ by Dickens, which is I think the best…
Here go the lines…
“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, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way-…”

I am sure many of you will agree with me over this. It is indeed one of the best beginnings in any literature.

Adios,

Teesta

aditimajumder · Sep 4, 2009

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CIS%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><style>  </style> Hello both of you,

To Teesta, you have said it right, ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ has indeed got one of the best beginnings, I loved reading that book, I have watched the movie as well. It was in this book that I heard about the word ‘guillotine’. Anyways, for me the best beginning would be from ‘Anna Karenina’ by Leo Tolstoy’ – ‘All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way’.

Take care,

Aditi

aparajitasarkar · Sep 5, 2009

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CIS%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><style>  </style> Hello Friends,

This is an impressive post. I liked it Sriparna. Well to be true there are so many masterpieces in all the literatures of the world, it is really difficult to sort out the books with good beginnings. Anyways, like the beginning of the short stories of O’ Henry. But here I will quote the first para of ‘The Gift of The Magi’ –

“One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty- seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.”

This is one of the best beginnings I have ever read.
You all keep posting…

Love,

Aparajita

shreyachatterje · Sep 9, 2009

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CIS%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><style>  </style> Hello Girls,

Well, I like the beginning of ‘Master of the Game’ by Sidney Sheldon. It is gripping and interesting. It will surely attract your all attention from the beginning and you will not want to let it go unless the book is finished.

Try it out.

Bye

Shreya

aparnamukherjee · Sep 10, 2009

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CIS%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><style>  </style> Hello Girls,

This is a nice topic. Well, I like the beginning of the short stories of O’ Henry as well. They are really very very impressive and touching. I am very fond of short stories and have read many of O’ Henry’s. Besides, I like the beginning of ‘Charulata’ as well, it tells you about how much loneliness is filled in her life.

Continue posting.

Keep smiling,

Aparna

sayontighosh · Sep 11, 2009

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CIS%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><style>  </style> Hello Girls,

For me the book that has got the best beginning is ‘Pride and Prejudice’.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

I think most of you here will agree with this.

Bye,

Sayonti

sriparnaguha · Sep 11, 2009

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CIS%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><style>  </style> Hey Everyone,

Thanks all of you for posting though I was hoping to see many posts. I like the beginnings of the short stories mostly. Guy de Maupassant is one of them.

Anyways, please do post more.

Take care,

Sriparna