tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8056815460076050228.post1164040990907122466..comments2023-11-22T06:35:25.251-05:00Comments on POE'S DEADLY DAUGHTERS: Opening LinesJulia Buckleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270211923343731659noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8056815460076050228.post-10296515414192500732008-11-20T13:19:00.000-05:002008-11-20T13:19:00.000-05:00Bonita, good point about Miss Silver, a great exam...Bonita, good point about Miss Silver, a great example of the protagonist who never changes. Have you ever noticed her chapter endings, anti-cliffhangers that would never do today? A frequently used one is : "They went on talking." And Susan, thanks for the delicious opener from Wodehouse.Elizabeth Zelvinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13944424094949207841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8056815460076050228.post-42091462827399272092008-11-20T10:23:00.000-05:002008-11-20T10:23:00.000-05:00"Into the face of the young man who sat on the ter..."Into the face of the young man who sat on the terrace of the Hotel Magnifique at Cannes there crept a look of furtive shame, the shifty, hangdog look which announces that an Englishman is about to talk French."<BR/><BR/>Who else but P. G. Wodehouse? The Luck of the Bodkins, 1935.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8056815460076050228.post-59863014774307196662008-11-20T10:08:00.000-05:002008-11-20T10:08:00.000-05:00You know, mysteries hardly ever grab me with their...You know, mysteries hardly ever grab me with their opening lines anymore. Seems like they're mostly prologues -- maybe a description of a murder (yuck) or a bit out of someone's life. Later, that prologue may turn out to be important, but when I'm reading for the first time, all I can think is to get -through- it and into the real book. <BR/><BR/>The kind of opening line I enjoy is one that bonitakalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02121185917750039853noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8056815460076050228.post-50422672283166959562008-11-20T09:48:00.000-05:002008-11-20T09:48:00.000-05:00Mother says there are rats in the rockery.From "Ra...<I>Mother says there are rats in the rockery.</I><BR/><BR/>From "Ratman's Notebooks", Stephen Gilbert, 1968, but more commonly known under the Hollywood title, "Willard".<BR/><BR/>Maybe it's not in the top 20 opening lines, but by the time I first read it, I had absorbed months of the film's TV ads (with Jean Shepherd's enthusiasm for a Red Ryder BB gun). I had an idea what followed, and was Jonathan E. Quisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13334719433572303381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8056815460076050228.post-64456568655678787362008-11-20T08:46:00.000-05:002008-11-20T08:46:00.000-05:00"Nothing ever happens to me," from Mary Stewart's ..."Nothing ever happens to me," from Mary Stewart's My Brother Michael--in a letter that the protagonist is writing to a friend, while sitting at a cafe in Greece.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com