Most Famous Opening Lines
Discover the most famous opening lines in literature that hook readers instantly. From classics to modern masterpieces, explore iconic book beginnings that set the tone for unforgettable stories.
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Moby-Dick
by Herman Melville
Presents the nineteenth-century tale of life aboard a New England whaling ship whose captain is obsessed with the pursuit of a large white whale.
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A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens
The French Revolution comes to vivid life in Charles Dickens's famous novel about the best of times and the worst of times... The storming of …
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The Missing Link
by Adam Pfeffer
Who is the creature hiding in Central Park in New York City? Hudge Stone, a reporter with the New York Herald, attempts to find out …
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Peter Pan (100th Anniversary Edition)
by J. M. Barrie
The adventures of Peter Pan, the boy who would not grow up.
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The Metamorphosis
by Franz Kafka
A novel about a man who finds himself transformed into a huge insect, and the effects of this change upon his life. It is the …
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Kolak of the Werebeasts
by Adam Pfeffer
"The attendants looked down and could see his face thicken, broaden to a wide oval, then almost melt away before their eyes. They watched the …
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ID: 1426428502
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Cat's Cradle
by Kurt Vonnegut
“A free-wheeling vehicle . . . an unforgettable ride!”—The New York Times Cat’s Cradle is Kurt Vonnegut’s satirical commentary on modern man and his madness. …
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Twilight of the Gods
by Adam Pfeffer
The year is 2056 and an android has just been elected president of the United States. In a world of computers, robots, and androids, will …
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The Catcher in the Rye
by J.D. Salinger
J.D. Salinger's classic of adolescent angst is now available for the first time in trade paperback. Holden Caulfield, knowing he is to be expelled from …
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The Satanic Verses
by Salman Rushdie
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “[A] torrent of endlessly inventive prose, by turns comic and enraged, embracing life in all its contradictions. In this …
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Anna Karenina
by Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy's evocative tale of doomed love—one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century. Anna Karenina startled the world with its powerful portrayal of …
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Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen
This is a beautiful new edition of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," the beloved novel which has been adapted into a movie starring Keira Knightley …
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One Hundred Years of Solitude
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Tells the story of the Buendia family, set against the background of the evolution and eventual decadence of a small South American town.
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The Annotated Lolita
by Vladimir Nabokov
Nabokov's wise, ironic, and elegant masterpiece. • A controversial love story almost shocking in its beauty and tenderness. • This annotated edition assiduously illuminates the …
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Gravity's Rainbow (Classics Deluxe Edition)
by Thomas Pynchon
A Penguin Classic Winner of the 1973 National Book Award, Gravity's Rainbow is a postmodern epic, a work as exhaustively significant to the second half …
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Invisible Man
by Ralph Ellison
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In this deeply compelling novel and epic milestone of American literature, a nameless narrator tells his story …
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
Huckleberry Finn had a tough life with his drunk father until an adventure with Tom Sawyer changed everything. But when Huck's dad returns and kidnaps …
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The Trial
by Franz Kafka
A brilliant translation of one of the most important novels of the twentieth century, revealing a tale that is as full of energy and power …
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ID: 0394700023
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Slaughterhouse-Five
by Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut’s masterpiece, Slaughterhouse-Five is “a desperate, painfully honest attempt to confront the monstrous crimes of the twentieth century” (Time). Selected by the Modern Library …
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ID: 1450212557
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