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. -Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859)
A good introduction will hook the reader, or grab their attention, so they will want to read more.
Here are some good beginnings to books you may have read.
Call me Ishmael.
-Herman Melville,
Moby-Dick (1851)
The early afternoon spring sunshine came peeping into the lunchroom and reflected off the stainless steel trim of Uncle Ulysses' unpredictable automatic doughnut machine.
-Robert McCloskey, Centerburg Tales (1951)
A screaming comes
across the sky.
-Thomas Pynchon,
Gravity's Rainbow (1973)
It was a bright cold
day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
-George Orwell,
1984 (1949)
I am an invisible man.
-Ralph Ellison,
Invisible Man (1952)
Back to Introductions
“Where's poppa going
with the axe?"
said Fern to her
mother as they were
setting the table for breakfast.
-E.B. White,
Charlotte’s Web (1952)
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley,
of number four, Privet Drive, were proud
to say that they
were perfectly normal, thank you very much.
-J.K. Rowling,
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (1997)
"I come from a family
with a lot of
dead people"
-Deborah Wiles,
read some here
There was a boy called
Eustace Clarence Scrubb,
and he almost
deserved it.
-C. S. Lewis,
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
read some here
"Ma, a mouse has
to do what a
mouse has to do."
-Avi,
read some here
"When the doorbell
rings at three
in the morning,
it's never good
news."
-Anthony Horowitz,
read some here
It was the day my
grandmother exploded.
-Iain M. Banks,
The Crow Road (1992)