As both a reader and a writer, I've come to appreciate the power of a truly excellent first sentence. I don't think it's a coincidence that some of the most memorable and best-loved books ever written have truly amazing first sentences. In many cases, you can name the book just from the power of those all-important opening words. Think of Melville's "Call Me Ishmael," or Dickens's "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Classic. Unforgettable. Here are fifteen of my very favorites. Trust me, every single one of these books lives up to the promise of that first sentence.
Month: November 2009
“The Magician’s Book: A Skeptic’s Adventures in Narnia” by Laura Miller
I am nobody's skeptic. As a matter of fact, I consider myself very, if hardly conventionally, religious. That said, I read Salon co-founder Laura Miller's The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia with a constant grin on my face, as passage after passage made me cry out with delight, "friend!" Here is someone who seems to not only understand the love I felt for C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, a love that still endures very deeply in my heart, but also my love of stories and reading. Indeed, she helped me understand that love better, and by consequence, the person I am and the writer I want to be.
John Adcox: Thoughts on My Author’s Journey 