100 Best First Lines

One of my favorites was left out. From Anthony Burgess' Earthly Powers: "It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me."

COMMENTS
Monty's picture

Who is John Gault? Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged. I don't know that this would be one of the greatest opening lines in literature, but it sure did sell a lot of bumper stickers and T-shirts.

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